A while ago, when I was a young 25- year-old, I traveled across the United States on a journey to make a film. During this trip, I ended up in Seattle where I met Laddie McCrea. Laddie was a hobo  . He was about 60-70 years old and looked 100. Laddie had shoulder length white hair covered with weeds from the previous night's bedding. His clothes were a living journal of evenings in the shrubs and days in the sun. Laddie stank   of alcohol and garbage. www.ks5u.com When I first met Laddie, he was standing on a busy downtown Seattle sidewalk. He greeted every passer-by with a smile, a pleasant greeting and an extended palm. Each day, society was rushing past Laddie - either unaware of his existence or avoiding him - a smelly, begging bum. I found Laddie to be an excellent character for my movie, so I paid him to allow me to stand in the background and film him. I spent three days hidden among the crowd, filming Laddie. Most of the time he was unaware of my existence. Each day he stood in a busy section of town greeting the world with a smile and an extended palm - just earning enough change for the evening's night cap  . One special day, as I watched from a bench off in the distance, a young girl, around 6 or 7, with a pretty dress and her hair in a ponytail, approached Laddie from behind and tugged on his shirt. Laddie turned to the girl, who then reached up and handed him something. At that, Laddie showed his happiness and reached in his pocket, gave her something and the girl ran back to her parents excitedly showing them what she had received. I was so curious about the exchange that I was dying to go immediately to Laddie and ask him what took place, but in order to get candid   shots, I knew I couldn't make my presence known. Later that afternoon when I finished my shoot, I spent some time with Laddie and asked about the event. Laddie replied: "The little girl came to me and gave me a quarter, so I gave her two quarters in return because I wanted to show her that when you are charitable, you will receive more than you give." What happened between the girl and Laddie?
Laddie gave the girl more money back, hoping to make her feel good about giving. The girl's parents persuaded her to give a quarter to Laddie. Laddie gave the girl two quarters and a talk on the value of sharing. Knowing he was being filmed, Laddie gave the girl more money.