The man stopped me cold tonight as I walked from the gym back to my office. He was saying grace.
"Dear Lord, thank you for ....."
What does he have be thankful for? He doesn't even have a home. It is approaching winter and he is sitting outside in the cold, reduced to the kindness of strangers for his everyday sustenance. But there he is, giving thanks for the blessing of a meal.
I paused for a second but quickly moved past without acknowledging his moment of privacy. "Better get back to the office," I thought to myself.
8 comments:
Hard to say, he's alive . . living off the small comfort of strangers? I often wonder where are the families of men and women like this. We have a town not too far away where about five homeless men 'live' in a rotunda on the park. I took them blankets once but they wanted money. I just remember thinking what had they done to alienate their families and end up on the street. I also have a blogger who's a junkie. He picks cigarettes up off the street but writes so eloquently on the back of pizza boxes then goes to an internet cafe to post. He lives in emergency housing and posts about his hamsters and chinese curry. I worry about him but he's too far away to 'touch'. Where's his family?
Why didn't you give me any spare change???
baino - It's something I can't imaging. Some people have no family at all. But some families are so broken they don't talk to each other. Who is this homeless blogger? It must be an interesting read.
broken - because you were spending it on food instead of the drinkie. There's no place for that in the nation's capital.
There is a whole little "city" under the overpass where I get off to go home. I have seen them praying together before.
I wish my family wouldn't embarass me so..
Makes you stop and think, doesn't it, how much we have, how little he has and yet he's still grateful for what he has and for what he gets.
We each have our own stories and of course, there are two sides to every story - often more.
Some of us are lucky to have homes, families, food and spare cash, some are lucky to just be alive - and because the life force runs strong in most humans, they are thankful for that, and for any little extra that comes there way. It's all relative, but most of us would do well to be far more grateful for what we have, most of us take what we have for granted and it's not until we lose something that we wake up to the reality.
Meg and vanilla - seeing that man pray and baino's comment actually made me think how many times I got angry with certain family members and wrote them off for good.
quick - nothing can touch you now you're a famous mention on Nat'l Geography.
TCl it's Gledwood, link on my sidebar. Very interesting to see how the other half lives. I wish I could just bring him home, stick him in rehab give him back his life!
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