In the Fuwa community of New Mexico, USA, three homeless men held begging permits and had lived in this community for 13 years. On November 6, 1998, the New Mexico state government passed a bill to revoke the begging permits of beggars who had been begging for over ten years, claiming they had become so wealthy that they no longer qualified to beg. As a result, the three homeless men were forced to leave New Mexico and head to Florida.
Upon hearing this, Father Sam of the Fuwa community immediately voiced his opposition and wrote to the state government, demanding that the three beggars be brought back. He stated that a community cannot exist without beggars, and that the government's presumptuous action was a complete desecration of good-hearted people, showing indifference and disrespect toward human nature. The bill must be revised.
At first, everyone assumed Father Sam was motivated by sympathy for the vulnerable, since in God's eyes, people are not divided by social status—both the rich and the poor are God's children. However, when The Christian Science Monitor interviewed Father Sam about this matter, they discovered it was not the case at all.
Father Sam said: "For the past 40 years, I have served as a priest in six communities, including Fuwa. These communities are similar in population and wealth, yet one community has the fewest people coming to me with spiritual problems and fewer people coming to church to confess than the others. Why is this happening? Could it be that the people here are less devout? For a time, I was deeply puzzled. Later, I discovered that this particular community had an orphanage with five orphans. These five orphans brought a blessing to the community because they awakened people's acts of kindness and provided them with a place to do good. People who frequently do good deeds rarely face spiritual problems, and even those with spiritual issues find solace when they perform good deeds. The three homeless men in Fuwa are also a blessing to the community. Now that they've been driven away, the people of Fuwa have lost the opportunity to gain spiritual comfort and fulfillment through charity. As a priest, can I accept such a law?"
Father Sam's words were later published in The Christian Science Monitor, sparking a large-scale protest against the state government's "November 6 Bill" across New Mexico. On January 4, 2000, the "November 6 Bill" was repealed, and the three homeless men from Fuwa were escorted back to New Mexico by police from Florida.
When welcoming back the three homeless men, everyone from the Fuwa community turned out, holding up banners, chanting slogans, and celebrating their victory. From the photos taken at the time, I saw two particular slogans: "Spending time helping others will heal your own wounds" and "A small act of kindness can bring the same comfort as an hour of exercise..." Of course, there were other phrases, but they were fragmented by the photographers and no longer readable as complete sentences.