Robert J. Matthews is a writer who took a trip to Nepal. Towards the end of his stay he struck up a conversation with a man. He would see this man everyday sitting outside a marketplace. He would walk past him everyday. One day Matthews started to talk to him. He knew a few words of English so they would have small conversations and smoke cigarettes together. He soon noticed that the man's feet were swollen. The man was a leper. On his last night in Nepal Matthews gave the man a pair of wool socks. The man was very grateful for this and his gratitude made a big impact on Matthews' life.
Researcher :chris
Robert Matthews story was about a man in a different country, learning about different people from different cultures. He never really had friendly relationships with anyone until he passed a man sitting on a bench. The first time they met they just smiled at each other. As time passed every time he’d walk by this man’s spot they would just smile at each other, or smoke cigarettes together. Then finally he had a conversation with the man in which he referred to him as daju, which means older brother. The older man responded by calling him bahai which meant little brother. Later he found out the man had leopards and couldn’t walk well. Before he left to go back home he bought the man socks, and the man thanked him. This story shows how people in other countries can be friends. My friend went to London to visit his grand parents and when he first got there he was talking to some people, and they asked where he was from. When he responded America they just walked away. Its hard to except people from different countries do to appearances, language, and there culture. Though if people like the ones in this story just stopped and were respectful of each other we wouldn’t have this problem.
Creative Connection: casey
In “A Simple Gift,” Matthews befriends an old man who he passes everyday on his journey in Nepal. Matthews always noticed the old man’s sincere expression and sense of peacefulness. The old man’s expressions made Matthews put forth effort to be friends with him. The old man was thankful for his new friend that he made. In a way, Matthews helped the old man. The story, “Liked for Myself,” involves a friendship between a little girl and an old woman. In the story, the old woman befriends the little girl. The little girl needs someone to like her and counts on the old woman to be her friend. In both “A Simple Gift” and “Liked for Myself,” individuals are helped by the efforts that others make. The old man appreciated his new friend bringing him socks for his crippled feet. The little girl appreciated the old woman taking time to talk to her and show her that she is liked.
I think that each story represents a friendship being formed by the effort of individuals. One of my friends made an effort to seek out an individual that was sitting alone in the cafeteria. I think the individual was happy because then he did not have to eat by himself.
Discussion Director:sandy
- The purpose of the story was to show what friendship means to the narrator and how a short-term friendship can have a long-lasting impact or effect on both people.
- The main points that the narrator is attempting to get across to the reader are that we should look past the outside appearance of people to discover who they really are and we should take the time to get to know others, especially the ones that we might normally pass by without a second look. Just a few minutes of someone’s time could impact someone else’s life drastically because it can show them that someone does notice they are alive, instead of treating them like they are just taking up extra space. I think these main points are shown through the connection that the leper and the narrator have when it comes to calling each other “bhai” and “daju” and also when the narrator gives the man his socks. When the man told him that no one has touched him before, it illustrates the main points above. Every one else pretended he wasn’t there and never took the time to speak to him like the narrator did.
- The narrator wanted to tell this story because it was obviously a memorable experience for him. It had such an impact on his life that he felt everyone else should know what they could be missing out on.
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—As I passed him he smiled at me again just as he had before. I was taken by how sincere this man’s expression was, and also how peaceful he seemed to be. I smiled back and offered the traditional Namaste, which he returned. I could not quite explain why, but it was the ingenuous smile of his that many times made me detour just to see him and say hello.
—Some time after this I again stopped to greet him. He smiled and appeared glad to see me. We spoke easily now; he in his broken English , and I in my fractured Nepalie. Out of respect I now called him daju ,or “older brother,” as is the custom. The first time I addressed him as daju his expression did not change, but from then on he called me bhai, or “younger brother,” as though he had been doing so for years.
—For a long moment he did not speak. I feared that I might have made him uncomfortable, but then he looked at me with marvelous compassion in his eyes and said, “ God bless you, bhai. No one has touched me in a very long time.”
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