A Not So Strange Stranger

The most compassionate, dedicated, loving, and influential person I know is my mother.  Everything that I am, I owe to her.  I will never forget the Friday nights my sister and I spent dancing with her around our living room to her vast collection of records (The Beatles being one of my favorites), or the stories of her childhood that I would beg for daily and can now recite by heart.  We were a family wealthy in spirit but lacked in material.  With money always a major concern to my mother, she worked hard to make sure we were taken care of.  I will forever admire her devotion.

I met Karen last Saturday.  Her story is not a happy one, and has recently become quite common among working class individuals. The current state of our economy has left many without jobs and has forced many to live on the streets.  As I sat and listened to Karen I couldn’t help but see the similarities between her and my mom.  Karen has two young boys, and has committed her life to them as my mom did to our family. 

Upon first glance, I noticed her white t-shirt and stonewash jeans.  She is twenty-nine years old and her boys, Cole and Madison, are both under the age of six.  Being a young, single mother, she had to work two jobs in order to support her family.    Her sleepless and stressful workload left her with neither the time nor money for an education.  An unexpected illness caused her to miss several months of work and she soon lost both her jobs.  Once recuperated she actively looked for work, but had no luck.  Her bills quickly became too much to handle and was eventually forced to vacate her home.  She and her children have spent the last eight months moving in and out of homeless shelters around the Houston area. 

Recent studies show the amount of jobs lost due to the recession is estimated to be in the millions.  The working-class in the United States has been hit hard in terms of economy, and every day more and more are unable to get by.  Karen has no mental issues, is not lazy, and is not a drug addict like some people assume those in her position to be.  She is homeless simply because she cannot find a job.  The reality of our nation is scary.  The thought of having a job and home one day and not the next is scary.  And most importantly, the thought of not knowing when things will get better is scary.

The songs of Revolver, one of my favorite Beatles albums, filled my room as I looked back and saw the similarities between Karen and my mother.  I tried to imagine what my life would have been like if my family was in their shoes.  I do not know a solution to this problem, and trying to think of one entraps me with confusion and heart-ach.  The only thing I can do is remain positive and continue striving to become a hard-working, honest, and kind-hearted person like my mother and Karen.  For I believe real change begins with the individual. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ_G9ETE21U

Space, Bleach, and a Snickers Bar

                Rushing home from school to do a load of laundry before work, I stopped at Kroger, my once go too grocery store, located on Montrose near Westheimer.  Moving back to Sugar Land a few months ago, it felt good to be on my old stomping grounds once again.  I figured I would run in real quick, get some bleach for my work shirt, grab a snickers bar I had been craving, and be on my way.  As I was walking towards the door, a boy, who was sitting on the left side of the store next to the street caught my eye.  Other than appearing a bit worn down, he looked like a perfectly normal teenager, but I could sense that something wasn’t right.  Although I wasn’t sure he was homeless, something inside me told me I should go over to him and say hi.  He was looking at me kind of strange as I slowly walked towards him.  A few days prior I had a knee injury causing me to wear a chunky brace, so when I say slowly, it’s no exaggeration.  We made eye contact during my long journey over, and he immediately looked away.  I was still able to see the side of his head however, and noticed he had a huge smile on his face and was trying his hardest to control his laughter.  Not sure if he was laughing at my newly acquired “walk”, I continued towards him.  When I finally made it, I introduced myself and attempted small talk.  He was very quiet, and I think a little embarrassed I had caught him laughing at my injury.  The only thing I could think to do was to tell him the story of how my attempt to be graceful had failed me once again, causing me to slip in the kitchen at work and dislocate my knee.  I reenacted the fall in the midst of my story and had him laughing out loud by the time I was finished.  The laugh we shared together broke the ice, so I took a seat in the grass next to him. 

His name is Nathan, and he just celebrated his seventeenth birthday.  We talked for a while. When I say we, I mean mostly Nathan.  He told me all about his love for astronomy and pretty much anything space related.   In the midst of his stories, I remembered that directly behind the Kroger is a homeless shelter, the Star of Hope Mission, in which provides temporary housing and food for underage children living on the streets.  Putting two and two together, I concluded the Star of Hope was Nathans current, but temporary, address.  Not wanting to be blunt and ask, I decided to inquire about school.  He said he dropped out of high school last year when he moved out of his mom’s house.  Considering he had just turned seventeen, I was a little taken back when I realized he moved away from home at fifteen.  When I asked him about his father, he abruptly said his mother was the only family he has ever known.    The happy and care-free Nathan I had known up to this point had now turned into someone completely different.  Earlier in our conversation while he was explaining black holes, I was able to feel his positive and happy energy.  Now all I could feel was sadness, along with a huge pit in my stomach.  He softly told me that he lives “around the neighborhood”. 

Determined to keep our conversation in good spirits, I had to make a quick decision.  I know the purpose of this blog is to try and figure out how and why people end up on the streets, but something about Nathan told me to stay away from any conversations of the sorts.   Looking into his eyes, I could see his heartache and could tell he lives in a harsh world, which I will never understand.  That’s why I decided to simply be his friend.  I figure with everything he is forced to deal with on a daily basis, the last thing he wants to do is talk about it to a stranger.  So instead of my usual questions, the questions he thought I was going to ask, I asked him if he wanted to help me with my grocery shopping.  I told him he would be doing me a great favor due to the fact I had a bum knee.   I could see a look of relief on his face as I stayed away from his personal life and asked just for his company.  He agreed to help, stood up, and lent me his left hand to ease my way up off the grass. 

We spent over an hour in the grocery store.  We talked about random, unimportant things, and spent the majority of our time laughing.  It made me happy to walk around the isles of Kroger with Nathan, and he seemed to be pretty happy as well.  He helped me to my car, and even opened the door for me.  I said goodbye and told him I hope to see him again soon. As I looked in the rear view mirror watching him walk away, I realized the huge smile on my face.  I don’t think Nathan has many people in his life he can count on.  I think he simply just needed a friend. 

As I rushed home I realized I had no time to wash my work uniform.  It’s amazing how quickly time passes in good company.  Sure, I had to work that evening with a large merlot stain on my sleeve, but it somehow didn’t seem so important.  From Nathan, I learned the importance of being kind to others, despite their status in society.  Nathan faces many hard challenges on a daily basis that most can’t even fathom, and the last thing he wanted to do was spend the afternoon discussing them.  I am grateful I was able to get to know him and take his mind off his everyday problems, even if it was only for a few hours.  A simple smile or hello goes a long way, and that, is something I hope to never forget.   

Bill and his Blue eyes

Looking into his piercing blue eyes, I could sense a deep pain and sadness.  Bill is an older man who sits all day on a street corner near Downtown Houston.  His raggedy clothes and sun burnt skin speak for itself, which is why he doesn’t find it necessary to hold a sign asking for food or money.  At first, it was hard for Bill to open up to me, which I fully understood.  Attempting to break the ice, I told Bill a joke.  Throughout my life, I have found humor to be a helpful tool whenever I am in an uncomfortable situation.  Bill finally smiled then laughed a little, and told me how I reminded him of his daughter. 
He spent most of the afternoon telling me about his family.  I quietly listened as he told me about his son’s football practice and his daughter’s 5^th birthday party.  I could feel his happiness escalate as he was able to tell me such stories.  Towards the end of the conversation I asked him if he was still in contact with his family, and he got quiet.  He told me he had not seen them in years and felt it was too late for a relationship of any kind to develop.  On my way home from meeting Bill, I felt a little down.  To see someone like Bill who once had a great relationship with his family and now not even know where they are was very upsetting to me.  I guess it's pretty easy to give up in life.  Bill is a smart man, very capable of maintaining a job to support himself and his family, however he just  gave up and allows life to pass him by.  In life, you have to fight for what you want. If you stop fighting, anything can happen.  Bill gave me motivation to keep going.  The ups and downs in life are never ending.  I know my life isn't perfect, and I also know sometimes giving up seems like my only option.  Bills honesty  enabled me to realize once and for all to stay true to myself, my goals, and my values.  Had I never stuck with my idea to start this blog, I may have never learned such a valuable lesson.  In my pre-blog life, I allowed my ego to fool me into thinking that I would be the one encouraging homeless people to better their lives.  Now I realize just how huge my ego was to ever consider myself wiser than anyone else who walks the same Earth as I.  Even if Bill isn't able to help his children, he helped me, and will forever change the way I view the world.