this article is based on a true experience back in the year 2002 on how i have helped a complete stranger when they were living on the streets.
It was the fall year of 2002,i happen to see it was very cold about 47 degrees this paticular day. I was living in a one bedroom apt kind of a bachelors setup. I had a full time waiter job at our local Dennys over the night shift. Well anyways i started to get familiar with the people around my neighborhood especially during the last summers,hanging out on the front porch watching every drifter go by. I was always giving away cans & bottles for this one guy who drive a grocery cart around the neighborhood. In new York our bottles & cans are worth 5 cents a piece.
He was always wearing holes in his pants,dirty baseball cap,always looked very dirty. He was an alcohloic but at least he was honest with me and himself. Well on this fall day, I asked himm if he wanted to come inside for a moment to keep warm while i went to get his bottles ive saved for him. I asked him are you homeless out on the streets and he told me yes but he manages. I said no wonder you have to buy alcohol-to keep yourself warm at night. He told me he gets up at 5am every morning collecting bottles & cans to pay for his cigarettes,booze or whatever. Right then i started to have a warm heart and felt sorry for him so i offered him a shower to clean up and i said i would give hime a few of my clothes to wear that wasnt holy and dirty.
I know probably a few of you are saying, why would you bring a complete stranger in your home,clean him up,give him a bite to eat,and clothe him of your own clothes. Well lets say it felt good to do something for another person that is less fortunate than you. I never gave him money or he never even asked me. So i also gave him a new razor to shave,clean new clothes,a winter hat to cover his ears instead of this old dirty baseball cap,a light hooded coat to wear underneath his winter coat he had on. He was at leaset smart to have a pair of boots on just in case it snows. Living in Syracuse NewYork, you never know when it will snow here.
He really appreciate what i have done for him and it felt really nice. Now im not saying to offer a complete stranger in your home and did what i did but if you can offer something for someone that is in need then do it. The moral of my sory is that ill say his name john whom was walking all around the neighborhood in the cold to make his own money. He didnt have to steal from no one. I really respected that guy to try to make a honest buck for himself even if he was homeless or a alcoholic.
