On my way to class one day, I saw a man holding a sign asking for food. Not money, food. I usually bring my dinner to class with me since it's an evening class. I had popcorn, an apple and a bag of carrots. I rolled down my window and asked if he wanted some carrots, to which he ran quickly to my car and graciously accepted them. I was struck with sadness, because I had never seen someone so eager for a bag of carrots. Then the light turned green and I told him to have a safe night and drove on.
When I came to the next light, I was hit with this wave of emotion. I felt like such a selfish person. I also had popcorn and an apple, and all I gave to this hungry man was my carrots. I should have given him more. I could have easily stopped and gotten myself food or been hungry for a few hours - where he has no other solution.
I made a U-turn and found the man. I asked him to walk to the QT up the road, because I wanted to buy him dinner. He followed me up there and I bought him as much as I could, bringing him out a few bags of food and water.
He shook my hand, introduced himself, and asked my name. Martin asked about my life and told me about his. I found out he had experienced a series of unfortunate events that led to his homelessness. Eventually we parted ways.
The next week I saw Martin and I bought him dinner again. When I brought it to him he started to cry and told me he was sorry. I asked him why he was apologizing to me when he hadn't done anything wrong. He responded that he hated that he had to ask for my help and that I had to spend my money on him. I told him I was happy to help, that I would want someone to help me - that we're all in this world together.
I couldn't stop thinking about him the rest of the night. I wanted to do more for him; I wanted him to have the comfort of a home and a warm meal. I started to think about all the things I take for granted, things I convince myself that everyone else also has. I mentioned it to a girl in my class to which her response was, "You'll see people like that all over here. You'll drive yourself crazy if you get upset, because you can't help them all. That was nice of you to talk to him though."
Her response was very typical, but it made me think. When did we as a society decide to lump people, who are desperate for help, into a lump sum? Into a group of "things" not worthy of conversation or assistance. I've seen this epidemic where people who have so much turn people who have nothing into criminals. Since when does being poor and homeless make you any less human? When did Martin become unworthy of my conversation and a handshake? It was a pleasure to talk to Martin.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't believe having money or privileges is a right. It's a blessing.
Sure, a lot of us work really hard for our money - but a lot of us were also born into our privileged situations at one point. A lot of people are born into families that were fairly well off, and so they had the money to go to college, get a great education, and then eventually get a decent job. They didn't have to struggle as much as less privileged people did. That's not to say that people who have wealthy parents don't have to help pay for college or support themselves, I'm just saying that it's not comparable to a kid who is born into a very poor family who might have to eventually work to help support his family or keep a roof over his head. Where is his money to go to college? Sure, there are loans. But what you have to realize is that these people also tend to not always finish high school because they are focused on making money or get sucked into nonproductive ways of money making. What we need to realize as a society is that it's a trickle down effect. People who are born with privileges are inevitably more privileged. You might think "just get a job" or "just go to college" but it's not that easy. We wouldn't know how hard it is because we've never been there.
I guess my point is that things are not always as black and white as we'd like them to be. But we can learn so much from people if we just give them a chance. Not all homeless people are drug addicts or alcoholics, and regardless they still need help. I think people tend to stereotype homeless people as being worthless, because it makes them feel less guilty about not caring or not helping.
I can't feed all the homeless people in the world, but I definitely don't mind trying. I don't have that much, but it's a whole lot more than Martin has. And every little bit helps.
In the end, if we spent more time loving and helping one another the world would be a better place.
"Do not educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up, they'll know the value of things, not the price." - Anonymous
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