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If I could share one thing with
you today,
it would be;
"There are no strangers here,
only friends You haven't met yet"
(quote by: William Butler Yeats).
Recently, my life took a turn
that has proven to me, that fear and anger can keep us from
experiencing
Love and Happiness, and so much
more,
if we allow them to.
A few nights ago, I attended a
night of worship at a local venue in the middle of the city,
and unexpectedly met some young people, that have made life so
much more meaningful for me.
THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT
I knew I would be in one of the
less desirable areas of the city, so parking in a "safe" spot
was on my mind.
I had been there before, to
support musically-inclined family members, so when I took the
wrong exit, the wrong turn, I blamed being up since 3 a.m. for
the error.
As it turned out, I found a
parking spot, close enough to the location, no meter money
required. The wrong turn, wasn't wrong after all... I was
content.
As I prepared to exit my car, I
saw an angry young male run up to the telephone pole close to
where I had parked, he punched the pole with his fist. He had my
undivided attention. I watched and witnessed more young people
gather under the bridge, near the pole, some bringing rolled up
carpet foam, backpacks, large cardboard pieces and some very
worn blankets. Dusk had made its way to darkness by now. In the
darkness of the night, I could see that there appeared to be
about 10 or so of them. I started to doubt if this was the right
place to leave the car unattended. I didn't know if to move the
car...
I decided to leave it parked.
I walked past them towards the
venue, noticing that some of them were running across the
street, some were sitting on the sidewalk, and a couple of them
were laying down preparing to go to sleep.
I noticed one female, the rest
appeared to be males. I noticed the unkempt hair, the clothing
in need of washing, some were not wearing shoes...they looked at
me and smiled, I smiled back...with some caution.
While I enjoyed the music of the
night, along with all who gathered that evening, I had forgotten
about the group of homeless kids just one block away, and about
the safety of my car.
As I left the venue and walked
towards the car, stepping carefully so as to not step on their
possessions, I observed these young people, most of which
were laying sleeping, huddled close together, then one of them
asked me if I had some spare change.
As I looked at this young
boy, I could not only see, but I could feel the innocence of the
request permeating from his light blue eyes...
I felt the fear from earlier melt
away,
I felt compassion grow within me.
I smiled and told him I would
return. I had only brought bigger bills with me to the venue, so
in the car, I gathered all the one dollar bills I had. I walked
back and handed him the money, he thanked me. I heard two others
thank me.
I went back to my car.
I sat and watched them, but I
could not leave, I felt I needed to give them more, I knew they
needed so much more.
I gathered all the snacks and
fruit that I had in my car, and went back to give them all I
had. I noticed some more of them sit up, anticipating the
sharing of food that would now take place among them. As they
looked at me smiling, all I could think of was that the food was
no where near enough for them all, but that did not stop them
from thanking me, over and over, and smile, with sincere
gratitude.
I went back to my car and called
family members still inside the venue, to see if they had small
bills, or more food to give these young people.
I eventually had to go home, but
I felt sad doing so, knowing that these young people would sleep
without food, comfort or warmth.
I drove away feeling regret, that
I didn't have more to give them, that I was unprepared. As I
drove past them on the sidewalk, they smiled and waved at me, I
waved back at them...sadly, while tears started blurring my
vision.
The memory of those young people
played over and over in my mind as I drove home. All sorts of
questions filled my mind during the drive. How old were they?
Would they be safe? How hungry must they have been? I wished I
had been able to do more.
I wished that they were not
homeless.
Knowing that I lived in a house,
I had a bed to sleep in, I had food in my kitchen, brought about
a certain degree of guilt for me. What I had, and some days took
for granted, they did without.
My heart was captivated.
Nearing midnight, and as I got
ready for bed that evening, my thoughts were filled with those
young people, and prayers for them...until I faded off to sleep.
Sleep is a way that the mind uses
to help itself and the body recover. During the first moments
when we wake up from sleep, our mind is clear of the stress,
harm and struggles we have faced. Thank God for making the human
mind black everything out so that the body can rest and
recuperate during sleep.
I pray that when those young
homeless kids sleep, their dreams comfort them, before they have
to awake to the reality of their lives for now.
Once my mind realized I was
awake, my thoughts and concern for the young people from the
night before began. I thought about them throughout the day, in
between responsibilities and everything else that a day can
consist of.
I decided that I needed and
wanted to go back to see those young people, this time, I would
have more food and water for them. I stretched my schedule so
that I could gather what I would take for them.
I prayed that I would find them
in the same location, I planned to get there around the same
time as the night before, so that I would hopefully find them
there.
I felt myself tearing up again
with concern for these kids.
They were someone's children,
they were someone's grandchildren, they were someone's cousins,
nieces, nephew's, brothers and sisters. It makes no sense to me
how messed up things are in this world. In our country, we the
tax payers provide a generous living for government employees,
first and foremost politicians, yet 3.5 million Americans
experience homelessness yearly.
We could all wind up homeless,
for one reason or another. Abuse is one of the top reasons for
homelessness, especially for women and children. It is such a
shame, that in this country, many middle class families are
losing their homes to foreclosure, while debts go unpaid due to
loss of employment, and closing down of companies. There are so
many vacant foreclosed homes in the U.S., while people and
families are homeless.
I did go back to visit these
homeless young people..
I will update this blog to share
what meeting them was like, and how this encounter has affected
my life.
"Fear makes strangers of people
who would be friends" (quote by Shirley MacLaine)
...♥
( Photography: Rio)
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"As
a baby around two to four months old, [she was] cooing
and watching my mouth in attempts to repeat my words, as
all babies do during that normal stage in development.
She made all the normal baby noises and played, laughed,
and looked at people right in the eyes... In 2001, at
the age of two, Selena stopped responding to her
name..."
