I got hold of this story from four friends here in New York.

Yesterday afternoon on the A train going uptown to Fort Tryon Park, they were quietly talking amongst themselves when a guy came through the car with an open bag asking for money. It was the same routine. He acknowledged that it wasn’t anybody else’s problem, that he was sorry for bothering everyone, but that he is homeless and hungry and just wants to get something to eat. There was a slight twist to his approach as he threw in the notion that he was also collecting for fellow homeless around the city.

Unfortunately, this is a normal ritual of New York subway life. So normal, in fact, that most of these appeals fall on extremely hardened and deafened ears. Literally, if you’re a frequent subway rider, you’ve heard this speech hundreds of times.

So, nobody gave this fellow any money. No offense intended and none taken. Again, pretty normal stuff, except that my friends reported hearing the man muttering under his breath something about how people just don’t get it.

He got to the end of the subway car and noticed a man slouched in his seat, tired looking and destitute.

“Brother, you hungry?”

“Yes, yes, man, I am,” the other man said, coming out of a midday slumber.

So the guy asking for donations pulled out some of what was probably the last of his own food and gave it to this other man in need. That’s it. No other words exchanged. Just one man recognizing the desperate needs of another and deciding to do his part to help. This man got it.

My friends told me that at that point the whole subway car perked up and took notice. Undoubtedly, everyone else on the car suddenly became overwhelmed with guilt and shame.

The man, savvy as can be, sensed this sudden shift in sentiment and continued to come back through the same subway car, with bag opened, asking once again for donations. As you would expect, wallets opened and charity, for one moment, had its place on this uptown A train.

Although an uplifting story, there is definitely a sadness to it all. Certainly, every second that people go hungry in our country is a tragedy. There simply is no room for this in the wealthiest and most resourceful nation on Earth. But what really saddens me about this story is the fact that people generally do not give unless they witness the drama of need. In other words, it’s simply not enough to learn that people go hungry from a person walking through your subway car. In order for someone to take action on an issue, he or she actually needs to be moved, dramatically. The recent Indian Ocean Tsunami is a perfect case in point. The drama of it all brought billions of relief dollars to the region in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile, there are areas in sub-Saharan Africa where hundreds of thousands of people have been literally starving to death for years; however, because there is no way (or will) to dramatize their story, that same level of relief simply is not coming forth. So, what makes this A train story so sad is the fact that we simply do not have the bandwith, if you may, to fit charity into our daily lives. There are, after all, only 24 hours in a day. We consistently sift through the noises of jobs, children, relationships, families, current events, dating and getting ahead in life, all of which drowns out the call of charity. We all want to help others, but dealing with our own lives is challenge enough. Besides, there are simply too many worthwhile causes to support and very little time and resources to get to them all.

NICE Magazine will spend a great deal of time helping you to be charitable. By profiling interesting causes, companies with a social conscience and people who go beyond the call we hope to give you the knowledge and inspiration to be a charity maven. So, here’s to a brighter, more giving future.

D. Robert – New York, NY