It was a mistake telling my parents.

Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem.

Assalam alaikum wr wb,

So I told my mom, and then my dad this morning, about the man I met in the parking lot. The last thing they thought about was how he was reduced to such humiliation. They thought, "Oh, you were being unsafe. He could have reached in and taken your handbag. He could have done this, that and the other."

But he didn't. I gave him a 100 bucks. He gave me the Ayat-ul-Kursi. He told me his story. He walked away.

They gave me grief over the money,saying I gave him too much.

I want to tell them - the man was in distress. Grave distress. I believed him. The part of me that is not ego, that is part of the invisible forces that binds all of us, believed him and I gave him the money.

Plus. It's just money.

It's just money!

It's just money!

I have thousands in my bank account and I gave this man a 100. So what?

God bless him and keep him safe. It's just money. He didn't ask for retribution, blood or sex. It was just money.

I told them about it because I could not believe the city of my birth, the city my parents had settled in almost 30 years ago, the city that had helped us make a better life, had become this thing, this thing that drives people to their knees. It had almost killed me this past year and I think it was killing this man too.

And my mother - oh my mother has a forked tongue. I said, "If he lied, it's on him, not me. My conscience is clean." She said, "Well, if I did a foolish thing and I felt good about it, well that makes it alright then."

I should never have told them.

I should never have told them. Why do parents do this to their children? I'm not a child - I'm 22 years old. But why would you teach your children to not care about other human beings?

Maybe this is the disproportionate reaction my therapist was talking about. I have a strong sense of right and wrong and when someone violates it, I am up in arms immediately, giving me and the other person much pain.

What do I say then? What's an assertive response?

I'll think about that and get back to you.

Wassalam and Fee Amanillah,
Zed.