The Peanut Lady

This Sweet Lady I call the "Peanut Lady".  I was on the Li River cruise awhile ago and all of a sudden we turned and ran up onto a bank at a small village.  We let off a group of people who needed to catch a bus on the road near the village.  While we stopped many sellers came down over a small bank to sell us trinkets. Several of us got off the boat while we were there and so many villagers swarmed down on us.  In the very back trying to manage getting down the bank was this sweet elderly lady.  She was selling peanuts!  Helping her family out which is the custom of the old people to contribute to the family in some way.   I waded through the crowd and went up to her, leaned down and asked for "One bag" of peanuts.  She had them hanging on a twig.  I rolled up a large bill and put it in her hand so she could not see how large it was.  She smiled and accepted it without knowing the value.  She seemed happy just to sell a bag of peanuts.  That bag and this photo of her hang on my wall next to my desk to this day.   I have it there to remind me that we all must be Contributors to our family, friends and community and then we all Gain By It.  I have learned many lessons of kindness in China; something we could all do with so little effort.
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