I don't hate the homeless. I realize that there but for the grace of God go I.
The first ever encounter that I can recall with a homeless person was at the age of 25.
It was around 6:00 in the morning and I had popped out to pick up a newspaper from the newspaper box in front of my building when I saw him across the street lying over a heating vent.
I remember the security guard in my building giving me an annoyed look as I first exited the building headed to the box. It seems I woke him from his nap as I came out of the elevator and went through the doors. As I came back into my apartment, I couldn't get the picture of that guy out of my mind. He was about the same age as me, dressed in shorts, very thin, very pale, very pasty... asleep on a steam vent.
There were plenty of stores, and restaurants in the area, but at that time of the morning, none were open.
I remembered the Take-Out I had delivered the night before. I was so full, I hadn't even touched the giant Greek salad. It was still in the bag in the refrigerator. I decided to leave it for him to see when he woke up.
I went down the elevator again, knowing the security guard would again be pissed at having to interrupt his little nap again by trying to look alert & on the job. He gave me such a cursive look too. It was one of those 'What the heck are you all happy about at this time of the morning?" kind of looks. lol.
When I approached the homeless guy, I only intended to leave the salad, ...but as I was setting it down, I accidentally woke him up. He jumped up so abruptly... we both scared the living daylights out of each other. lol. Then I asked him if he had eaten at all, and gave him the salad, along with a few napkins, a plastic fork, and a small bottle of apple juice. You should have seen the gratitude in his eyes, and the joy on his face! He was sooo happy to receive it. I didn't do it to see his gratitude, or even to make him happy. I just did it because he looked like he could use a bite to eat, and I was able to help him.
It ended up helping me more than it did him. He was fed for a day, but reliving that moment has fed me for years
Not all my encounters with the homeless have been positive. Some have been quite unpleasant, like one I had last Sept. I was attending a conference at a luxury 5 star hotel, and stepped outside the hotel with a woman from Dublin, Ireland because she wanted to have a cigarette. We were approached by a man asking for bus fare to take a coach to his father's house in another city. Neither one of us had any money on us, I had left my purse up in my room, and all she had was her Barclays credit card. We both said sorry. I suggested he could try contacting GO Transit, and just explain his situation, and see if they could do anything to help. He started berating us beyond belief, talking about how we were staying in a hotel for $400 a night, but wouldn't spare a few bucks. It was nasty.
There are times when we are able to make a big impact in people's lives. We're not always able to do it every time, and can sometimes get discouraged, calloused, cynical or even desensitized along the way. But those times when we can make an impact... we should. Little impacts along the way provide the fuel that keep us going, and allow our lights to continue to shine brightly, as we light the way for others.
Imagine how beautiful this world could be, if we all took our time, energy, and resources to positively impact just 1 person? The transformation would be astounding.
