In a scene from the movie Ironweed, the characters played by
Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep stumble across on an old Eskimo
woman lying on the ground, probably drunk. Besotted themselves,
the two debate what they should do about her.

“Is she drunk or a bum?” ask Nicholson.
“Just a bum. Been all her life.”
“And before that?”
“She was a whore in Alaska.”
“She hasn’t been a whore all her life. Before that?”
“I dunno. Just a little kid, I guess.”
“Well, a little kid is something. It’s not a bum and it’s not a whore. It’s something. Let’s take her in.”

-Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace