An arrogant and rich young girl scorns a homeless beggar but fate has a lesson in store for her.
When Anna Barklay was 21, she came into an inheritance. Her grandparents had left her a trust fund, and Anna started living life on the fast lane.
She partied with the beautiful people, bought only designer clothes, and lived in a Manhattan penthouse. Life was good, and Anna was sure the party was never going to end. She was wrong.
Anna wasn’t just rich, she was beautiful, and her face was soon all over the gossip magazines and Instagram pages as she romanced one celebrity after another.
But her endless line of lovers had consequences. One day, Anna discovered she was pregnant. She went to the doctor, thinking she could ‘sort out’ the problem quickly, but she was in for a shock.
The doctor examined her and did some tests. “I’m afraid it’s too late for the solution you want, Ms. Barklay,” he told her, “You’re too far along.”
“What do you mean?” gasped Anna. “You’ve always taken care of things before!”
“Well,” the doctor said coldly, “you were very careless I can’t do anything.”
“You mean… I have to have this brat?” screamed Anna. “But I don’t even know who the father is!
The pregnancy put a pause on Anna’s hectic social life. As her pregnancy advanced, she was no longer asked out to parties by her so-called friends, and she couldn’t dance all night long anymore.
Anna forgot that nothing lasts forever and was finally confronted with the consequences of her choices.
It was a long wait, but finally, Anna went into labor and delivered a beautiful little girl. The doctor attempted to place the baby in Anna’s arms, but she turned her face away.
“Take that thing away,” she said. “I don’t want it!” Anna eagerly signed the adoption papers without holding her baby even once. She walked out of the hospital and within weeks she was back to her old life.
It all seemed even more exciting and wonderful and glamorous than before! Anna plunged back into the party scene and started an affair with a famous basketball player
One evening, coming out of one of New Yorks’s most exclusive clubs, Anna saw a homeless man sitting by the door. The man saw Anna and he called out to her. “Please, could you spare me some change so I can eat something?”
Anna looked at the man sitting on a cardboard box with a plastic cup in front of him, and she sneered. “Get up and get a job!” Then she deliberately kicked over the cup with its meager store of coins and laughed as the man struggled to pick them up.
Anna turned her back and walked away. The man was a filthy beggar, and Anna was young and rich, glamorous, and beautiful. She and the beggar couldn’t possibly have anything in common, could they?
But nothing lasts forever, and the first thing to go was the money. Anna discovered that she’d burned through the money her grandparents had left her and she was now on the verge of poverty
She wasn’t about to give up her wonderful lifestyle and get herself a job, so she took up with an older and very rich man who’d been in love with her for a long time.
Tim wasn’t very attractive, but he was very wealthy and very generous, and he paid for her Manhattan penthouse and gave her a series of platinum credit cards. He would never visit without bringing her gifts, usually jewelry.
“My Anna,” he sighed, placing a dazzling diamond necklace around her neck. “You deserve to sparkle like a movie star!” Life was good, and Anna put up with Tim’s visits, his hairy hands, and his slobbery kisses for the sake of the money.
Anna was Tim’s mistress for over ten years, and then things changed. Tim became more distant, less generous, and started criticizing her. “You’re getting a little long in the tooth, Anna!” he said. “How old are you now?”
Anna smiled sweetly. “Baby, I’m only 29!”
Tim eyed her figure coldly. “You look fifty. I think it’s time for me to move on.” After Tim left that night, Anna went into her luxurious bathroom and looked at herself in the bright unforgiving lights.
Her figure was no longer firm and trim, and her lifestyle had left marks on her face. Anna had lied to Tim. She was thirty-six, but she looked much older. Like the money, she’d spent her beauty carelessly.
Tim didn’t just kick Anna out, he took back all the expensive jewelry and the credit cards he’d given her. She managed to scrape by for a while by selling her beautiful clothes, designer shoes, and handbags, but soon those were gone too.
Her glamorous friends had no time for a penniless aging beauty and to her horror, Anna found herself out on the streets. She didn’t have money for even the dingiest motel, so she curled up in a doorway and waited to die.
Anna was half asleep when she heard a kindly voice. “Here, my dear, drink this. It will help.” Standing in front of her holding a steaming mug of soup and a blanket was a tall man.
Anna drank the soup gratefully. She kept looking at the man’s face. He looked so familiar… And then she remembered the beggar outside the club. Tears streamed down her face.
“I know you,” she said. “I kicked over your cup…Why are you helping me?”
The man took her hand gently. “My dear, I’ve been where you are now, and where you were before,” he said. “I was lucky enough to come out on the other side, and I know you deserve a second chance.”
The man’s name was David and he had founded an organization called Second Chances that helped homeless people get back on their feet. That night Anna slept in a warm safe bed.
With David’s help, Anna found herself a job, and soon, she moved out of Second Chances into her own apartment. On weekends, Anna volunteered there, but there was still something weighing on her conscience.
Anna wanted to be sure her little girl was alright. With the help of one of David’s friends, she discovered that her daughter had been adopted by a loving family. The child she had abandoned was safe, and Anna was finally at peace with her past.
What can we learn from this story?
- Wealth and beauty can wear out, but a kindly heart is forever. Anna forgot that nothing lasts forever and was finally confronted with the consequences of her choices.
- Before we can move on to a new life, we need to make peace with our past. Anna had to make amends for her former bad acts before she could be happy again.
