More Snow Melt

Self-analysis? Self-honesty?

Encountering the homeless always remains with a self-aware person. Even driving past a homeless person without making eye contact will stay with someone who acts like a true human being. Encounters with the homeless, even if it’s to speed past without making eye contact are predestined (I’m not sure that is the right word here) by God, fate, or whatever you want to call that part of the universe that transforms the individual and awakens the person’s true potential as a human being.

If a writer makes these encounters then the encounters usually (about 99%) of the time ends up in a journal, poem, or short story. I don’t believe in coincidence myself, which is the way many would describe a momentary encounter with a homeless person, saying that I have encountered several homeless people in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is full of the homeless and homeless shelters. All the food banks have a special section of food strictly for the homeless. Saint Vincent’s Dining Room feeds the homeless everyday of the year.

I encountered a homeless man a few weeks ago in the parking lot of one of the grocery stores. He helped me load my food into my car, I didn’t have any money to give him. He didn’t ask for money, even if he had asked I couldn’t have given him any. What I had was a trunk full of aluminum cans; I opened my trunk, I give him all the sack of aluminum cans. He had a shopping cart with other sacks of cans he intended to sell.

I had intended to sell the cans myself and use the money for gas. The cans went to better use by giving them to him because he could buy a hot meal with the proceeds. I encounter the homeless all the time in Las Vegas, I help the ones I can help then I help. No one person can help every homeless person encountered. I just do the best I can and analyze my own actions.

This is my response to "Invalid Entry"  for Thursday, May 7, 2009 in the "Follow the Leader" .