[00:01.08]--- lesson 27 Nothing to sell and nothing to buy [00:07.36]--- Listen to the tape then answer the question below. [00:13.04]--- What is the most important thing for a tramp? [00:18.08]It has been said that everyone lives by selling something. [00:22.72]In the light of this statement, teachers live by selling knowledge, [00:27.72]philosophers by selling wisdom and priests by selling spiritual comfort. [00:34.72]Though it may be possible to measure the value of material goods in terms of money, [00:40.16]it is extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us. [00:47.48]There are times when we would willingly give everything we possess to save our lives, [00:53.16]yet we might grudge paying a surgeon a high fee for offering us precisely this service. [01:00.12]The conditions of society are such that skills have to be paid for in the same way that goods are paid for at a shop. [01:08.64]Everyone has something to sell. [01:12.32]Tramps seem to be the only exception to this general rule. [01:17.52]Beggars almost sell themselves as human beings to arouse the pity of passers-by. [01:23.84]But real tramps are not beggars. [01:26.88]They have nothing to sell and require nothing from others. [01:31.20]In seeking independence, they do not sacrifice their human dignity. [01:37.00]A tramp may ask you for money, but he will never ask you to feel sorry for him. [01:43.40]He has deliberately chosen to lead the life he leads and is fully aware of the consequences. [01:51.08]He may never be sure where the next meal is coming from, but he is free from the thousands of anxieties which afflict other people. [02:00.56]His few material possessions make it possible for him to move from place to place with ease. [02:07.36]By having to sleep in the open, he gets far closer to the world of nature than most of us ever do. [02:14.52]He may hunt, beg, or steal occasionally to keep himself alive; [02:19.88]he may even, in times of real need, do a little work; but he will never sacrifice his freedom. [02:27.52]We often speak of tramps with contempt and put them in the same class as beggars, [02:33.80]but how many of us can honestly say that we have not felt a little envious of their simple way of life and their freedom from care?