Generosity

Anywhere you go, you meet all kinds. But, within the last week, I have been struck several times by the open, spontaneous, natural generosity of Pervians. Last week at the clinic, after staying late to make a home visit to Fermin, Noemi (one of the nurses) suggested we get lunch together back in Trujillo. Having planned to eat at home, I hadn't brought enough money for lunch. Without a second thought, she immediately invited to treat me, and we enjoyed a delicious menu (cheap, fixed price lunch meal) downtown - much needed by 3 pm! And then she bought me an ice cream cone.

Saturday, at the central market, I was standing at a booth, undoubtedly calculating the cheapest possibility of getting my desired combination of produce. A humble, elderly gentleman, stooped over the ragged basket of lemons he was selling, asked to be excused as he tried to pass. Still focused on my vegetables, I moved aside to give him room on the narrow aisle but declined his offer to buy any lemons. However, the lady from whom I was buying immediately reached over and gave him some coins. I felt about the size of a grain of dirt.

Then, yesterday I was sitting next to a woman in the combi on the way back from Wichanzao. Her mother passed away last week, and she was heading back to her home in Jaen today. After talking most of the ride back to Trujillo, she thanked me for the work I am doing and, before I realized what what was happening, she had already paid my pasaje to the cobrador who takes everyone's bus fare. I can tell you that often, this work I'm doing feels much smaller than the voluntary acts of encouragement and kindness I see and have received, like that from this lady yesterday, given without reservation or a second thought.

Would I have done the same? And another thought came to me, as well: what am I saving my money for? Financial responsibility and frugality are important - I firmly believe that and, I think, often even hold a little too tightly to that principle. I think it's fine to look for a good deal on vegetables in the market, especially if I'm trying to make sure what I save is going to a good cause like the Wichanzao clinic or a food offering at church. But, even though these are good things, being too stubbornly fixed on giving only to "this" or "that" can impede the beauty and sincerity of spontaneous generosity. Lord, forgive me for focusing so much on the lower prices, even out of well-intended motivation, that I fail to notice and give your love freely to the elderly, those in need, or a traveler in a strange land.

This year, I want to live more like a Peruvian.