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Osama Alomar's very short story "Do Not Forget the Poor" is (in its entirety) as follows, in its English translation by "C. J. Collins with the author":

Even before I arrived at the corner, a few meters from my friend’s house, I smelled a very sad smell. I felt a pain in my stomach, and I found it very strange. When I reached the corner, the sad smell became unbearable. My tears began to fall profusely, leaving me confused. Then I saw a woman in the autumn of her life. Her clothes were torn, like her life. She was covered with the tears of Humanity. I went toward her, shaking from the pain, which increased as I drew nearer. When I was beside her, she looked up at me and said with tears in her voice, “Don’t forget the poor!”

My soul fell into scattered pieces. Humanity looked me right in my eyes, and the contraction of her pupils squeezed my heart. I took a handful of coins from my pocket and gave them to the old woman. Humanity grasped my hand in support. As she took the money, she looked at me with two eyes that gazed into the deepest depths of tragedy. And as soon as the money was in her hand, the sad smell disappeared and the pain in my stomach dissolved. My tears stopped. Humanity patted me on the shoulder and took from the pocket of her white garment a quantity of happiness that would last me for thousands of days, and she planted it in my future. I turned to my friend’s door, but just as I was ringing the doorbell, the old woman let out a volcanic scream that burned the embryo of my happiness, and fell down dead.

Most of this story is clear to me: the woman is a personification of Humanity (not for the first time in Alomar's stories), the "sad smell" denotes poverty (again, not the only time Alomar denoted poverty by a bad smell), and giving money to help poverty brings happiness to the narrator (this could be either the immediate happiness of having done a good deed, or a sort of karma since the happiness is "planted [in the] future"). What I don't understand is the very last sentence: why does the old woman scream and die as soon as the narrator rings the doorbell?

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  • Possibility: False Humanity didn't keep Humanity alive if giving money only to stop the smell or whatever? Commented 2 days ago
  • She was already dying but it just happens when he goes to leave (rings doorbell). I don't think that it's "as soon as". I think it's at the same time as... Commented 2 days ago

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One possible interpretation: giving money to the poor will make you feel happy but won't significantly help them.

Consider the details of the story, in order:

  • The narrator doesn't think about the issue of poverty until it's right in front of them: even "a few meters" from the house they're going to, all they notice is the "sad smell". It takes the old woman of Humanity coming right up in front of them and speaking to make them understand where the metaphorical smell and pain are coming from. The phrase "Don't forget the poor" is significant here: the woman doesn't say "the poor need help" or "poverty is an issue" but specifically asks the narrator not to forget the poor - indicating that they may have been forgotten up to now.

  • The narrator donates only "a handful of coins" - a contribution, but a small one in the face of the immensity of the problem. The choice of the word "handful" suggests that we're meant to feel it's only a small amount. The story never says that Humanity feels better from this donation: the woman "grasped my hand in support" (gratitude is only natural), but her eyes still "gazed into the deepest depths of tragedy". The problem in the world is not solved!

  • After giving the coins, the narrator immediately feels better: no more smell, no more pain, no more tears, for the one who gave the money. The story says nothing about the one who received the money improving her situation, but only that she gave the narrator "a quantity of happiness that would last me for thousands of days". This suggests that this one act will make the narrator feel, for thousands of days, as if they've done good in the world. But a single act of charity is not enough to fix the problem of poverty in the world, nor even to fix one person's life if it's just a "handful of coins".

  • The final sentence of the story emphasises the point that the woman's life has not been fixed by those few coins (metaphorically, poverty can't be fixed by a single donation). The narrator turned to their friend's door and rang the doorbell - continuing their life as if nothing had happened, as if they've forgotten the old woman of Humanity now that the act of charity has been done. Exactly as the narrator does this - ignoring the woman's plea not to forget the poor and really forgetting them while continuing naturally about their day - Humanity screams and falls down dead.

Up to the last sentence, the story is more-or-less realistic. The unexpected scream and death - the only thing that wouldn't normally happen in reality in such an encounter on the street - are a reminder, to the reader as well as the narrator, that a poor person's life isn't fixed just by giving them a few coins.

In this interpretation, the whole story is a reminder that poverty, and many other social issues facing the world, are systemic problems and need systemic solutions. Many people's only true interaction with poverty might be to see a poor person on the street and give them a few coins, but if you just do that and go back to continuing your life as before, it doesn't help much.

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  • yes, exactly. he completed the transition to "forgetting the poor" as soon as he started ringing the doorbell Commented yesterday

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