Sometimes you open the gate to take out the trash and discover a treasure. This gentleman was walking down the street Sunday in front of my house. I asked him what he was doing. He smiled, his eyes warmly expressing his pleasure in my poor attempt at Thai. Shyly he explained he'd come to Bangkok from the north east of Thailand by bus because he didn't have any money. Now he was walking about sharpening knives for 10 baht a blade. I asked him if he had any family and how old he was. Proudly he said he was 73 and it was because he had family he'd come looking for money.
I hired him, but what was very fun is while he sat in my driveway sharpening a couple of knives, other Thai families--noticing his efforts and sympathetic to his plight--walked over bringing him bags of food and fruit. He laughed, weiing everyone who gave him a donation. He told me I'd brought him luck and thanked me many times before walking on to search for further fortunes. My knives have never been sharper.
