Wisdom in Generosity and Hospitality

The Dream

I’m in a house and there is a knock on the door. I answer it and see a group of people. They appear to be refugees and include young and old. About 8 or 9 of them. I get the impression they are all part of the one family.

They are all wearing orangey puffy coats and are a bit dirty. It is freezing cold outside, colder than I’ve ever known it to be. One of the younger of the group has their arms folded, hands tucked into their armpits. He is shivering and his face is almost blue. I feel warm in my house and just want to wrap my arms around him to give him a hug and warm him up as it looks like he is really suffering.

They want to come in and I invite them in. They start to split up and linger about the rooms. They are complaining of hunger and that they haven’t eaten in a long time and they have no money or possessions.

I see some of them putting some things from the house into their pockets. So, I want to now get rid of them but I don’t want to make it obvious. I suggest we go to the chip shop up the road and I will drive them up and buy them food to satisfy their hunger.

We are in a chip shop. I am about to ask them what they want but then I see someone else in the chip shop who is doing this very same thing with a similar group of refugees (what a strange coincidence!). This other person tells the refugees to go ahead and order food and he will pay for it. When the food is given over, I can see that each of the refugees has ordered far more than they will be able to eat. They all individually receive ridiculous amounts food as they have ordered far more than they needed.

The man buying the food is not happy and he goes over to pay for the order. I watch as the refugees that were with him are stuffing their faces and becoming full, but then also pocketing the many food items they ordered for themselves but couldn’t eat. They are putting whole burgers in their pockets and other food items.

I decide to ask the refugees that I am with what they want me to order for them. Then I can limit what they receive. The food comes and I give it to them. I do not want them to return to my house so while they are pre-occupied with eating the food, and since I live a bit of a distance from the chip shop, I leave for home; hoping that they will not be able to find their way back to my house (if they should choose to return).

Notes

I saw the man in the chip shop regret helping out the people in his care, which is a shame to have regret in doing a good work.

It is interesting that I wanted to get away from the people I was helping. I had pity on them at the beginning, but when they turned against me by stealing my stuff, even though I was helping them, I no longer wanted to help them any longer. Rather than kick them out, I used wisdom in getting them out of my house while also doing a further good work in helping them satisfy their hunger.

We should help those in need. However, we should not allow others take advantage of our generosity.