On my journey, I stopped at a Burger King in La Vega near Santiago. And 3 shoe shine boys and a boy selling CD copies of music all gather at the door of this Burger King to shine shoes, sell music, and beg. Mostly beg. Clothes dirty, worn, and smelly. They are so close to the door, that the manager runs them off, and they go scurrying away, only to come back in a few minutes when he's not looking. Scenes you just don't see much of in the States.
One of the boys eventually sneaks inside to ask some of the customers for, what I was assuming to be, food or money. All of the customers turned him down. I watch, but am not approached, much to my surprise. (normally grengos are the first target!) I'm sitting there watching and wondering if they (probably about 10-14 years of age) had ever had a Burger King meal, while I stuff my self with something I take for granted whenever I want. They probably have never eaten a whole meal there, since we're talking about $6 to $8 US for a Whopper Combo or chicken sandwich combo; possibly scraps and left overs.
So, after a short prayer of what to do I finish my burger and walked outside. Again, they were at the door, but again, they did not approach me, just kinda stared at me. I kinda stared back; just trying to get a feel for what I (& God) wanted to do. Then, after a few minutes I motioned for all of them to come inside.
Immediately their eyes lit up like Christmas morning! And they walked into the restaurant with shoulders back and heads high, and approached the counter, and announced (even though I couldn't understand their Spanish, I did understand) that the man behind them (me) was paying for their meal and they wanted to order! Their postures straight as a soldier, and smiles from ear to ear. The lady at the counter seemed skeptical and I motioned that yes, I was going to buy their meal. They looked back at her like "I told you so, now please take our order." And order they did. Nothing extravagant. Just burgers, fries, and cokes. But, I'm guessing it was extremely rare, if not the first time they had such a meal. I paid for the meal, said "enjoy it and I'm leaving" as best I could in Spanish, and watched 4 boys anticipating a few moments of pure pleasure as I walked away.
It is so rare to be blessed to be in a situation that you just know in your heart how fortunate you are to share God's blessings with someone else. And their eyes tell the true gratitude. I guess that's the true rarity. Even though I am reminded of my blessings so often here, I still loose my eyes of gratitude.
3 Shoe shines boys and cd salesboy (beggars) show me the eyes to have, once again.
I wanted to take their picture and even possibly watch them enjoy their meal, but I thought that would spoil the moment and make it into some circus show. So, I blog about it as a memory photograph. And just imagine the memory photograph they have of the day they got to eat at Burger King.
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