panhandle #2

米ミズーリ州カンザス（カンザス、カンザスではなく、ミズーリの方--ややこしい！）のホームレス Billy Ray Harrisさんが、誤って受け取ったダイヤモンドの指輪を持ち主のDarlingさんに返還したニュースが大きな話題を呼んでいます。この善行は世界中に伝えられ、Harrisさんは長年会っていなかった妹さんと会うことになったそうです。

A week ago, KCTV5 reported how Sarah Darling had given her spare change to Billy Ray Harris, who panhandles at the Country Club Plaza. While doing so, she accidentally dumped her engagement ring into his can.

When she noticed the next day that she had her wedding ring but not her engagement ring, she panicked. She rushed to the Plaza, but Billy Ray Harris was not there. She returned the next day and found him.

When she asked, he returned the ring to her.

A simple act of doing the right thing by a man who lives underneath a bridge drew headlines across the world. The Huffington Post and Yahoo.com featured stories on Billy Ray Harris and Darling. National networks sent reporters to Kansas City. CBS featured the story.

"What I actually feel like is, 'what has the world come to when a person who returns something that doesn't belong to him and all this happens?'" Billy Ray Harris said.
Robin Harris saw one of the reports in Wichita Falls, TX, where she lives now. She called KCTV5's Betsy Webster, who did the original report, to ask for her help in reconnecting with her brother.

"I want him to know that we love him and we miss him," she said. "We want him here and he (can have) a roof over his head if he chooses to come home."
Billy Ray Harris and Darling reunited on Thursday night.

http://www.kctv5.com/story/21202651/homeless-man-stays-modest-despite-new-national-attention

panhandleを紹介するのは2度目となりますが、「 （街頭で）物ごいする」という意味で、begやbeggarという言葉に取って代わった単語です（"To beg for money, especially with a container in hand for receiving loose change, especially on the street, and particularly, by a bum"--Weblio）。手を差し出すイメージがフライパンに似ているところから、このように言われるようになったとのことです。
日本ではさほど珍しいことではありませんが、彼の国だからこそ大きな扱いになったのでしょうね。（UG）
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/A30/20110107/1294401438