Watch the video below, or read the story below it.
One day, Ali’s mother took him to town to go shopping with her.
Ali was excited because he hadn’t been to the city before.
When they arrived, they went shopping in the affluent section.
Ali looked around and saw wealth everywhere.
Tall buildings.
Fancy cars.
People wearing expensive clothes and jewelry.
All kinds of restaurants and ice cream shops.
It’s a wonderful place, he thought.
His mother took him to a restaurant and bought food to take to the nearby park to eat outside.
As they walked through the park, Ali noticed an old man sitting on a park bench alone.
He could tell from the man’s unkempt hair and beard and his dirty and ragged clothes that he was poor and didn’t have a home.
It seemed strange to see such a vast difference between the old man’s world and the world of wealth he’d seen only a few minutes away.
Ali thought for a moment about the sad scene and then ran over and gave the man his bag of food.
The old man smiled and thanked him.
Before they could speak further, a policeman approached them and told Ali that he could not give food to homeless people in the park.
Ali didn’t understand why the police officer was saying that, and he ran back to his mother.
“Why is that policeman so mean?” he asked.
As they walked away, his mother tried to explain that the city law did not allow people to give food to homeless people.
Ali couldn’t understand such a law. It made no sense.
When they got home that evening, Ali’s mother and father tried to explain that some man-made laws are helpful, and some are harmful. That some are just, and some are not.
“But I thought policemen were good and helped people,” Ali said.
They figured it was time to tell him another truth: that some police officers are good, and some are not.
They told him about how police officers used to beat and jail peaceful protesters during the Civil Rights Movement when his father’s parents stood up for equal rights for all people in America.
And how the police in South Africa, where his mother was born, used to abuse the black people there.
A few months later, it had gotten cold outside and had been snowing.
Ali wondered how people like the old man he’d seen in the park could survive in such weather. He dreamed about an old man outside in the snow that night.
The next day, Ali’s mother took him to town for shopping with her again.
After eating at a restaurant, Ali’s mother took him for a walk in the park.
It was cold, and a light snow was falling.
The snowy park was beautiful, but Ali knew that it would be hard for homeless people to live outside.
As they walked, Ali saw an old man sitting alone on a bench.
He looked poor, cold, lonely, and hungry. He reminded Ali of the man he’d seen in his dream.
Ali looked at his mother and knew that it was OK to approach him.
He looked around to make sure there were no police officers around and then ran over to the old man and gave him 30 dollars.
The old man thanked him excessively and said that he hadn’t been able to eat that day.
Ali told him that he was welcome and said goodbye.
As he walked away, he suddenly stopped and turned to the old man.
“My name is Ali,” he said.
“I’m Frank,” the old man said and smiled. Most people never introduced themselves to him.
When Ali got back to his mother, she hugged him tightly.
“That was very kind of you,” she said.
“I’ve been saving my money,” he said.
His mother was so impressed by Ali’s kindness that she reached in her bag and took out a $100 bill and gave it to him.
“Take this to him,” she said.
Ali smiled, ran over to the man, and gave it to him.
The man smiled and thanked Ali.
Ali learned something important from meeting homeless people and the mean policeman.
He learned that some man-made laws are good and that some are not. And he learned to follow only the man-made laws that are fair and just and not to do evil even if a man-made law ordered it.
As they left the park, Ali and his mother saw the mean police officer standing nearby and looking for someone to harass.
Since meeting the first homeless man in the park a few months earlier, Ali had learned that sometimes police officers arrested and fined homeless people just for sleeping outside, even though they didn’t have a house to sleep in.
He knew it was a cruel and stupid law.
How can people sleep in a house if they don’t have a house? Where can they sleep if not outside?
“I might become a policeman myself when I grow up,” Ali said to his mother. “A nice policeman who helps people instead of hurts them.”
As they left the park, Ali’s mother was happy.
I believe we’ve raised a son who cares about other people, she thought.
She couldn’t wait to get home to tell Ali’s father about his kindness.
Copyright © 2026 Ibrahim Abu Ismail and Dean Kane. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, posting on the Internet, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author/illustrator.
