Friday, January 30, 2009

"Food" for thought

All you hear now-a-days is how our economy is falling apart. For those of us with jobs that aren't getting cut back, have bills that we can manage with our jobs, etc, it's not too obvious for us that the rest of the country out there is having a problem struggling with our day to day life. Everyone is out there hoping that Obama can sweep in and save us. I wanted Obama in office, just as much as the rest of the population but let's face facts. He is mostly the face of the government. Can he have things changed by the end of the year? Mostly likely not but I think we shouldn't put so much pressure on the man.

What can we do to fix things in our lives? I usually shop at the mega mart terror-- Walmart because it's close to home. A while ago, I noticed a homeless guy on the corner by the light of the busy intersection with a sign wanting money. The intersection is busy because it is a south bound on-ramp to a major highway. Every now and again I see someone giving him money. His sign says "Homeless Vet; Anything helps." I've thought about giving him money but I never have actual cash. I'm a debit card girl. I also see him smoking cigarettes all the time. Is that what he does with his money? I don't trust that. Then quite a few months ago, another homeless man with a sign saying "Homeless Vet, please give money," started holding his sign by the north bound ramp. In the last 2 months, if you go the opposite direction, we have 2 more homeless males holding a sign up. One sign got me. "Will work for food." That's all his sign said.

I see him frequently and yesterday, I was shopping as Sam's and it dawned on me. I spent $17 for toliet paper and $13 on baby wipes. That's $30 spent on wiping our bottoms. And this guy, he just wants to work. I happened to have kept the container of jerky that I bought in the passenger seat because I hadn't had breakfast and I was hungry. He was standing there, probably seen me eating it from the corner of his eye, so I opened my window and offered him some. They were individually wrapped. Part of me wanted to give him all 30 pieces. I'm not sure why I didn't. He offered to help me with something. I decline. He said "God Bless," and went and put the jerky in his dirty, nearly empty back pack. I hope he wasn't living out of that back pack. There really was nothing in it. A couple of dirty things. That's it.

It felt good to help him a little bit. And he seemed to be genuinely in need. Never saw him smoking or drinking. What can anyone do to help him though? The only thing I can think of is to keep a little bit of food in my car for when I see him. I'm sure we have clothes and such that we could give him, but would he take that? I guess it's hard for me to see things like this. When I was younger I would put my leftover food that I didn't eat from dinner in plastic bags in case someone who didn't have food happened to be digging around for some. I've always wanted to help. Just not sure where or how to start. And how does one decide who deserves help? :o/

1 comment:

Holly Schwendiman said...

Ah my dear, and now you've touched on where the real power lies. Good for you!! Jerky sounds good, can I have some too? :)

Hugs,
Holly

 

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