First some background information …
As the snow started to fall last Tuesday, my grandparents decided to move the car into the driveway as to allow the plows to come and clear the streets. With the spot open, my neighbors across the street moved their car into our spot and as the snow continued to fall, and the plows began to come by, their car was encased by snow.
For the following 9 days, the car sat there. The husband has his own car, and thus has something to take to and from work, and left his wife home, with no car to use. Day after day, we(my grandparents and I) were forced to pull in and out of the drive way to accommodate each other’s schedules. Finally today, the wife came out – with a child in one arm and a shovel in the other, and cleared her car out and backed out of the spot.
This brought me to my experience …
Upon returning home from school, my grandfather told me that while the spot was vacant, there was still a substantial amount of ice and it won’t be until tomorrow when one of us got around to finishing the job of shoveling that we could clear the spot. I decided to just do it then and there.
So there I was, outside in the dark, freezing and exhausted from a long day, shoveling away at this 9 day old ice when a man walked by and in passing said, “hello”. Next thing I knew, he walked up to me and said the following:
“Hey man, my name is Marcus. You know this area good, right? I want to first thank you for being so down to earth for even talking to me. I mean it, you are a good guy already. Listen, I am not a druggie, or an addict of any sort. I am a student from Atlanta, Georgia and I am sick with a tumor behind my eye. I don’t want anything, but I need your advice. I couldn’t afford the hospital room anymore and they threw me out. I tried the YMCA, the other hospitals, Salvation Army, and the police station. I don’t know where to go. I am 7 dollars short for the room tonight. I hate to just take money … I will prove myself to you. I’ll do whatever you need. I want to work for the money, I want to show that I am not lying …”
I cut him off right there, and pulled out the two dollars I had in my wallet and said to him that he did not need to prove anything to me and that he could have these two dollars. With that he looked down, took the money and went on his way.
This brings me to a few points.
- I know very well that he may have been lying to me. Its happened before, such as the time when the UHO (United Homeless Organization) got a few dollars out of me on a train ride to the city. I found out a few weeks later. See this article. But this has never bothered me. If I give money out of the goodness of my heart, then its money that I am giving. I look at it as me giving it to a person who obviously has no morals, or a serious addiction. I won’t be able to sleep tonight thinking that this man, who may have a tumor and have no place to stay would be out on the streets.
Example of a United Homeless Organization table set up ...
- Why do black men automatically assume that I think they are homeless, drug addicts or out to get me? I am the most cool white dude you will ever meet. I go to a school in which whites are the minority, and I have always been able to mix into various crowds – I think mainly because of the respect and open-mindedness that I have for all sorts of people.
I’d love to hear some of your views on this issue. On how you would have treated the situation, or maybe a similar situation you’ve already been faced with.
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