Why Should I Have Two?

A retelling based on Portals to Freedom by Howard Colby Ives (George Ronald, 1937). The narrative is retold in our own words; the line in quotation marks is verbatim from the book. Read the full text for Ives's own telling.

The woman had a window, and the window looked down onto the street, and from it she could watch 'Abdu'l-Bahá as He went about His mornings.

On this particular day He was pacing as He often did, dictating to His secretary, the words coming steadily while He walked. And as He walked, a man came down the street toward Him — an old man, shabbily dressed, the kind of figure the world trains itself not to see.

'Abdu'l-Bahá saw him. He stopped, and sent His secretary hurrying after the man to call him back. When the old man returned, the Master greeted him warmly, smiling as though an old friend had just turned the corner — and as He did, His eye fell on the man's trousers, which were filthy and worn through, no real protection against anything.

What 'Abdu'l-Bahá did next, He did so quietly that the watching woman almost missed its meaning. He stepped back into the shadows of the porch. There, out of the street's sight, He removed His own trousers — and gave them to the man. Then He spoke a blessing over him, May God go with you, and turned back to His secretary to resume the dictation exactly where He had left it, as though nothing in the world had happened.

Later, when someone marvelled at the thing He had done, His answer carried the whole of His teaching in a single breath:

Why should I have two, when there are so many who have none?

It is among the shortest stories Howard Colby Ives set down, and one of the hardest to forget. There was no sermon in it, no audience He meant to impress — only someone who needed trousers and Someone who had a spare pair, and a sense of justice so complete that the gap between those two facts could not be allowed to stand. He did not give from His surplus as a favour. He simply could not understand why He should keep two of anything while another went without.

This account is retold for the Bahai Story Library; it is a paraphrase, not the original text. The quoted line is verbatim from Portals to Freedom (Howard Colby Ives, George Ronald, 1937). See the source for Ives's complete telling.

Ives, H. C.. (1937). *Portals to Freedom*. George Ronald. https://bahai-library.com/ives_portals_freedom