If you’ve ever visited downtown Guadalajara, you’ve seen the insane amount of homeless people.
There are so many it feels like Jalisco is competing against California for some kind of prize. That’s why, when you live there, you quickly learn to ignore human misery because it becomes part of the landscape.
Although every now and then, a scene breaks the routine.
For example, one day I was eating with my family and about 30 other people, when a homeless man walked in, delirious, asking for money because according to him, he hadn’t eaten or slept in years. The impact was so strong he had 40 human beings in silence, listening closely as if he were some washed-up politician on campaign. Nobody knew what to do, not even the staff. In the end, three waiters had to force him out.
Anyway. I’m not the kind of guy that gives them money. Pity is a million-dollar industry, and I don’t like to add my grain of sand to it. Until one day, someone made me break the rules.
And he did it with a single phrase:
“Got 20 pesos? I haven’t had a drink in two days.”
That broke me. The brutal honesty of this man. He was asking for money to get drunk. Not for some made-up surgery, or imaginary treatments for a child that doesn’t exist. He was talking to me about a problem straight from the heart, one I could actually fix.
I had no choice but to give him what he asked for. He could have asked me for 50 pesos and I would have handed it over.
That’s the power of honesty, and how it sets you apart from everyone else.
It’s also important to be specific. By saying 20 pesos, he removed the mental work from my brain. I only had one decision left to make: help him or not.
Now, I try to use this principle in my writing, whenever I can. Because what’s real, sells.
Want to connect with your audience? I help businesses create fans through email-written content. Just like that homeless guy, but instead of a measly dollar we’ll have your clients giving you cash hand over fist.
Send me a message here.
Cesar