I was rushing to catch the train home at Suburban station today when I was about to go down the stairs but stopped short because a homeless man on crutches who was amputated above his left knee was hobbling down. I came up next to him and asked if I could help in some way. He lightly touched my arm and said after a pause "Can you buy me some food". I told him to meet me at the bottom of the stairs and i'd get him some food. So I went ahead to a pretzel store and bought water and two soft pretzels. He followed me in just after I paid and said "I have no teeth, I can't eat that. There is a chicken place next door." I don't know how I didn't see he hadn't had any teeth before, so we walked to the next restaurant.
He ordered two legs, one breast, and mashed potatoes. As I was about to pay, a security guard came in and said "I'll take care of him" to the cashier. At first I thought he was going to remove him from the establishment, and that made me angry. But then he repeated himself and said "i'll buy him whatever he wants". I told him I was taking care of it and he smiled. The homeless man, who was slow and warn looked at me and said graciously and softly "thank you and god bless you." I ran out of there to try to catch my train and just a few steps from the eatery I ran into another homeless woman. She looked at me timidly, so I grabbed into my bag and handed her the soft pretzels I had initially bought. She smiled and said "Oh thank you so much".
It's so simple - basic human needs - food - and they were truly grateful for my kindness. It really wasn't a big deal for me to do it and its something I take for granted. Being able to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. It's not that this is the first time i'm coming to this realization - I faced it almost every day while living in NY where homelessness is out of control. But at times I am more affected by it when I think of the "problems" I think I have when in comparison, i'm am a very fortunate individual and I am no more deserving of my fortunes than those two homeless people I came across this evening. I still don't understand why these inequalities exist. It breaks my heart. I need to learn to be more grateful for my life and not pick on the smaller things that are really insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
On a side note - I've been watching Dancing with the Stars whenever I could this season. I can't believe i'm going to say this - it's really blasphemy being a Philadelphia Eagles fan - but I totally am pulling for Emmit Smith to win! I LOVE watching him dance - and i'm just not a Mario Lopez fan (something to do with screwing a stripper the night before his wedding just doesn't sit well with me).
1 comment:
wow, good story. thanks for sharing. i'm glad those two people just wanted/needed food. it sucks so bad that i hesitate to reach out to homeless people in philly b/c in my experience most want money and not food and then how do you know what they'll do with the money, you know?
one day i was sitting in a park near my work back when the weather was warm, feeling sorry for myself over ron, and a woman came around asking for money - i watched as one person after another blew her off so when she came to me i asked her to sit with me and asked her what her story was. we talked for probably 20 mins, and i did end up giving her money. but most importantly, we helped each other feel better.
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