the guy on the street

That's me, I'm the guy on the street. I'm the one that hangs out with people you see standing on the corner or on the freeway off ramp with a sign that says " helped me," because I can't help myself.This seems to be a growing problem in the richest country in the world. Every day I see more and more people waiting in the feeding lines that are provided by the churches and nonprofit organizations. The sad fact of the matter is that many of these people are mentally ill. They could not find work if it were handed to them on a Silver Platter. If they did get a job it would be short-lived due to the mental illness.
I am the guy that hangs out with these folks on a daily basis. I work for a government agency and I go home at night. I wake up in the morning and my house is a little chilly and the first thing I think about is my people that are sleeping out in a cold.
We now have some cold weather shelters that are good between 6 PM and 6 AM but then they're back out in the cold. This is indeed a sad state of affairs. The stigma of homelessness says that these are non- people who are not deserving of our generosity or compassion. The truth of the matter is that each one is someone's son, daughter, mother or father. How difficult it is it for us in this time of Christmas cheer to share some of that with those that are less fortunate than we are. My job if you will, my calling in life is to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. Sometimes all it is is blessing someone with the gift of my attention. Last night, I spent some time with the person who didn't have a home who was telling me that he was a police officer. He believed what he was telling me was the truth and for him it was. He took me on a journey through the secret intimacies of his tangled mind and I was more than happy to share the journey with him. I had to leave him in the shelter but we will share more time together in the future and perhaps I can make a difference in his life. That is my hope and my goal.