No Longer A Beggar

by Hye Won Kang


On Thursday night on my way home, I was heading to the LRT station. Just like any other days, a beggar (actually, I don’t want to name him a beggar but forgive me, I have to for the sake of my blog post) was sitting at the side of the road begging. Normally, I would get some coins and drop them into a cup he is holding. However that night, all I had was a piece of bread. I grabbed it and bent a bit to hand him bread I had. It was that moment… I faced him. I looked at his eyes for the first time. I used to drop some coins and just passed by. I don’t know how to express the feeling I had, but when I faced him, he was no longer a beggar. Yes, he was begging but regardless of that, he was a human being just like me who needs food, security, friends, and love.

When I handed him bread, he gave me a smile which I would like to describe as “innocent”. It was a sort of smile that came out from the heart. And, I smiled too (Was it ‘innocent’? I am not sure). On my way home, I wondered what made him smile. What I gave him was just a piece of bread that would never fill his stomach. It would never solve the problems he has. It would never change his life. I thought it over and over again. Perhaps, it wasn’t the bread that made him smile, but my attention.

I have always thought that what beggars need is just money and food. Yes, they need them. But what do they desire? We never care to think about what they desire. Probably, it is attention, care, and love that they really desire. When people notice beggars, they pretend they did not see them and ignore them or just give them some coins unwillingly just because they are ‘beggars’. The beggar I met on the way to the LRT is there every day begging and many people pass that road but how many people actually attend to him? I bet less than 10. I remember the times when I just ignored him pretending that I didn’t see him or I am in a hurry whenever I didn’t feel like helping him. Just because they are beggars, they are abused as a human being. In a way, this is their life, the reality that they can’t avoid.

When I looked at him into his eyes, I felt like he is demanding – demanding me, my attention, and my help. I couldn’t help but to ponder upon what I could do for him. Ignoring him who demands you is actually ‘killing him’. We should respond to the commandment in the appearance of the face, “Thou shalt not kill”. I am responsible for him. You are responsible for him. We are responsible for him. This is what I realized on that night.

What makes beggars, the beggars? Is it them begging? No, ironically, it is the society or people that name them as ‘beggars’ and confine them within that context. In fact, they are no different from us. They need what we need, they desire what we desire, and they demand what we demand as human being. We have to face them and when we do, they are no longer a beggar. They are one of us.

Enslaved To Be Freed

by Steffie Castaneda

7 February 2013
Discussed Text: Levinas, "Responsibility," Ethics and Infinity


Hearing the word responsibility nowadays often makes me want to cringe. It sickens me because I feel I have had too much already. Eight classes to look after for a whole semester demands so much of time. And it does not stop just yet, because I know I have other more responsibilities to carry. More responsibilities to challenge me.More responsibilities to burden me.

More responsibilities to enslave me.

One night, just recently I was alone at our terrace, busy practicing solving problems for a physics long test on the following day. Far as I was from done, I was so worried that I didn’t want to take a few minutes of my time if it’s not for something that will draw me closer to finishing my task. But just when I thought everyone at home was already asleep,assured no one will disturb me, my cousin unexpectedly goes out and sits in front of me.

I was surprised. I can’t just ignore her and keep on solving, so I stopped.

Hostage, though seemingly exaggerated of a term for this kind of situation, was used by Levinas to refer to the experience of being claimed by the Other, as if besieging us, or persecuting us. It is as if the Other is accusing, or imprisoning us of something we were not even aware of. There is a command to serve him, to be responsible for him. This brings out the vulnerability of the I that did not choose to respond in the first place, but wasnevertheless affected by the Other and so has committed to respond.

 had to stop because I know my cousin wouldn’t just sit in front of me to reflect/relax/meditate/pray etc. I had to surrender a portion of my time and lend a listening ear to her. And in that situation, I ought to be more listening than talking or commenting because it seemed more appropriate for what she was about to tell me.

Hearing her expressing how tired and worn out she was with her work, just as I was too, I vulnerably gave in further to the command for my ears to catch her words, my mind to de-center, my heart to share the weight, my soul to reach out, even if all means taking as much as she needs of my time that could have been spent for sleeping and studying. The conversation lasted for about 30 minutes, but it did not just stop yet because it made me reflect after for a few minutes more.

Many times, we choose for things to go our own way. But it cannot always follow that way simply because we cannot take control of everything. Things can unexpectedly shift in direction, and this is what makes us vulnerable, especially in the context of the Other who suddenly and unexpectedly approaches us to demand, as if in a claim to serve him/her for something we were not accountable for. It demands us to “substitute for the Other”in a fault that wasn’t ours in the first place.

And what is most ironic about that situation is that it does not seek to enslave you, but free you. This is the most wonderful realization I owe to Levinas after having listened to Dr. Garcia’s lecture last Thursday. Looking back at my experience,I now find that sense of gratitude and rewardfrom that very moment I was seized to carry on another responsibility, in addition to my already many responsibilities. It one was a special kind, because what seemed to enslave me at first--considering the state I was in that time--was now,I realize in amazement, a ratherfreeingone. It was a freeing one because itallowed me to get out of myself and reach out to the Other.To quote Hammarskjöld, it was as if “the way chose me”to reach out and share the burden of the Other, not just my own, and for that I am truly blessed and grateful because it brought out the good and the love in me