'Homeless Man' Rewards Those Who Do Good, Practice Kindness
There's a man in Vancouver who will surprise you simply for doing the right thing. He poses as a panhandler and then turns around and offers you assistance as part of his family's ritual of performing random acts of kindness.
Yogi Omar, 30, was stunned when he stopped to help the man who was at the corner of a sidewalk asking for loose change or any help at all from those passing by. Omar decided to do what he could and offered him food and clothing.
"I wanted to give him food more than anything else, really," Omar told The Vancouver Sun.
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Yet Omar received a huge surprise when the man rejected his offer and asked if there was anything he could do for him. As it turned out, the man was actually quite wealthy and participating in his family's annual week of doing good deeds for other people. He wanted to see who would help him while he appeared as a panhandler and offer a reward of sorts for those who he said did the right thing.
"He said, 'I do this with my family every year.' They just want to see who cares about the homeless. I was like, 'Wow, that's crazy,'" Omar said. "He said, 'I have to remain anonymous. Just keep doing good things.'"
Omar and the anonymous man spent some time together, just talking, and when Omar said he had purchased tickets to China to visit his dying grandfather, the man gave Omar the money to pay his rent for one month.
"He just whipped out this fanny pack and gave me $469 in cash. I was like, 'Is this serious?' I was really stunned at that point," he added. "I was very, very stunned. I was thinking about this the whole time. I was like, 'I don't know what to say. What do I do?' I thought, I'm going to tell people … it's weird but wonderful."
"I just feel a lot of times people don't have the time or opportunity to be heard. I do and I don't [want to know the man's name]. I want to thank him properly, but I don't because that is what he wants… inspiration comes from anywhere," Omar explained.
