Today I was driving home from the grocery store. Allison was screaming in the back seat and Noah was complaining because he was hungry. I was feeling overwhelmed with the two of them. I pulled up to a light and saw a man standing on the median holding a cardboard sign that said "please help." Over the years I've had a rather cynical attitude towards the homeless. I almost never give them money because I am sure they'll go buy alchohol. I prepared myself to do the usual avoidence of eye contact and impatiently waited for the light to turn green.
Just after the light turned the man ran out in front of my car. I almost ran him over. He was running to the car next to mine where a woman was offering him a few dollars. As he ran by he looked me right in the face. There was something about him that caught my attention. He was very young. He looked like he was only a few years older than myself. He was tall and strong and looked quite capable of working. I began thinking of the economic hard times we are experiencing in this country. Surely, there are many who are out asking for help who are NOT alchoholics. For all I knew, this man had a family and was simply out of work and out of options. I was overcome with guilt for having such a bad attitude towards this man. How could I, as a mother, deny this man a little bit of charity? Yeah, I don't have a lot but I can certainly afford to spare a little for someone who has nothing.
I pulled into the next shopping center and found a Subway. With two screaming kids in tow I bought a sandwich, cookies and some juice. With a few dollars added to the bag I drove back to place the man had been and he was gone. I panicked. Noah was in the back seat begging for the cookies he knew I had. I kept telling him they were for someone who had no food. I drove every direction from that point figuring he couldn't have gone very far in only 10 minutes on foot. Finally I found him and was able to deliver the food. He expressed gratitude and we continued on our ways. I drove away wishing I could have done more. I wanted to know who he was and learn his story.
The fact is, that I will most likely never see him again. But I have seen many like him and done nothing. I suppose I have a lot of time to make up for that. Upon reflecting on this experience I can't help but think of my own children. The poor and homeless are somebody's children too. If nothing else, they are children of our Heavenly Father. I can only hope that if, Heaven forbid, one of my children were is such a situation that somebody who show them compassion.
4 comments:
That's quite an experience you had today :-) Jeremy always reminds me that it is our actions and the motivation behind those actions that we are judged for and whether or not those we help will use the money unwisely is not for us to judge. Thank you for sharing that experience with us.
Crystal
I really liked this post Heather. And I admire the fact that you went out of your way even though it was totally inconvenient. From working at the homeless shelter here in Ithaca for a year and a half I can say that the issue of homelessness is far more complex than we can imagine. And the challenges that many of my homeless clients have faced during the course of their lives has led me to believe they are survivors. You will almost certainly run into an alcoholic homeless person (many have chronic addictions) and are trying to cope with what they have but many do not. Thank you for this kind and genuine post.
that was nice of you to get him some lunch. i always have the same problem, reading mosiah 4 is pretty black and white about helping others out, but at the same time, you dont want to feed an addiction... so food is a good way to go.
This post kind of made me laugh (in a somber, thoughtful way) because when I was a soph. in college, there was a homeless guy who always sat at the same corner in Provo. One day I decided to buy him a sandwich from Subway and dropped it off to him. Later, a guy in my ward said, "You actually fell for that? Why do you think he camps out 1 street down from Subway? Every other BYU kid feels bad for him and gives him a sandwich." Okay, thanks for reminding me of that...and the post.
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