the purest form of kindness

i was rushing out of a building, when suddenly two kids, one boy and one girl, about my littlest sister's age, approached me. turned out they were selling newspapers and magazines.
their cheerfulness, typical cheerfulness children commonly have, has left them somewhere. from what i saw that night, they were just sad, skinny little kids looking forward to going home.

it was uncomfortable seeing kids hanging around at night, yet no one could do anything about it. i glanced at the magazine they were selling, nothing caught my fancy. so i gave them some money, not much, just what i had in my pocket.
they gave me the look as if I have just given them gold, thanked me politely, and i continued to walk, couldn't help smiling, feeling good about myself that I made them happy. I looked back to see them. I could not believe what I see.

A few feet away from our encounter, there was an old lady, a homeless, sitting on the sidewalk. She looked pretty tired. Those kids paused, looked at each other as if they had the same thought.
Then the boy pulled out the very money I gave them from his pocket and gave a half to the old lady. Her expression made it clear that they didn't know each other.

I might be much older, much wealthier, much much more educated than them.
But that night, without even realizing, they taught me a lesson I would never forget.

I continued walking, feeling so small. I had exchanged my penny with a priceless lesson.