How do you help someone who needs it but doesn’t want it?
I never got his name, but I’ve seen him many times on my way to getting breakfast. He was an older man, rumpled and bearded. He was sitting on his haunches, underneath the sign for the Bank of China, his few possessions in a backpack behind him. He had his hood up because it was raining. He was sipping a warm cup of coffee and eating a breakfast sandwich wrapped in tin foil.
I passed him, at first, because he didn’t seem to want anything. He didn’t have a sign that said he was a veteran, or that he had lost his job, or that he was trying to earn money to get home, or that he was sick. He didn’t even have a cup with coins and bills in it deposited by passersby.
I returned and introduced myself. He replied with something unintelligible. I moved on, not knowing what to do, hesitated, and then decided to try harder to reach him. I returned and asked him, “Do you need anything, sir? Money or food?” He looked like he did.
“No,” he said gruffly. He didn’t make eye contact me with once. I gave up and left, not knowing what to do. He wanted nothing to do with me.
He had absolutely no interest in any help from me, much less an interview. But I know I’ll see him again.