Painful to think about, let alone read quietly in my warm house on a cold wet day in mid November.
My hope is that your grand daughter will remember that you handed cash to someone. You GAVE WHAT YOU COULD to a Stranger in much worse circumstances than your own. Giving and not expecting anything in return is a rare action in the Best of Times.
Please Continue Giving What You Can.
Thank you so much. I’m a social worker in a very wealthy state. We don’t have enough housing partly because wealthy people have purchased extra houses and other’s mobile home parks, to feather their wealthy-already nests.
Those folks should pay extra taxes on their wealth so that govt s in small communities can create safe housing for homeless folks, build networks for unhoused teens and others of all ages, to have warm, clean safe places to rest overnight. Every night. Until state funded education can be attended to lhelp unhoused folks get skills necessary to move into their own lives ! Without standing in the cold rain hoping someone will hand them enough cash to get a bowl of warm soup for ten minutes indoors …
Our beautiful country is truly lopsided with the HAVES & the Don’t ever get a hand up. We in the middle are struggling to avoid sliding into the homeless
Yes indeed it is a complicated mess only made worse by the further concentration of wealth and so many other lopsided variables. I very much appreciate your thoughts.
Just one of many painful lessons this sweet girl will learn that will leave her speechless. Some facts are so foreign, so incomprehensible to children -- what can they say? Even as adults we face the unfathomable, don't we? It is sometimes hard to accept, but it is part of the human condition. A very moving tale, Mark. Thank you.
1. I share your abhorrence for driving in cities, on interstates, etc. 2. Belle has inherited her grandpa's empathy and compassion. 3. She will remember your generosity AND your honesty with her, about painful truths.
You reminded me of the day when my daughter Helen was two years old, riding on my back as we walked through the town common and past a World War I field cannon. “Daddy, what is that?” There was no good answer.
Thanks George, At the end of my recent post about - Being spared again, I closed it by writing something to the effect that - I'm making more room for divine mystery nowadays. Well, I've just made some more room.
Reality is difficult. Certainly, we wish differently but my youngest sister spent 4 years homeless. I did what I could to help her without it becoming a dependency. It is hard knowing a person you grew up with is one of those. Last I heard, she is living on land she purchased with her share of inheritance in the motor home our parents passed down to her. Her mental illness is so cruel towards me that I am better off with minimal contact. She doesn't believe there is a problem with her way of thinking; and she has been that way for so long, I have little hope she will ever emerge from what is likely paranoid schizophrenia. Sadly. At this point, I have to take care of my own mental health, when it comes to contact with her. Sometimes, what we can do for another person is so very limited. What you could do for that man was limited. That you gave him money, I admire.
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister Deborah - that is a really tough challenge. The devastating effects of mental illness seem to compound with age and the social net to care for people with these diseases is so limited. Sometimes the costs of trying to care for someone are so great emotionally that both parties end up losing. Thank you for your perspective - that's a heavy burden to carry.
Painful to think about, let alone read quietly in my warm house on a cold wet day in mid November.
My hope is that your grand daughter will remember that you handed cash to someone. You GAVE WHAT YOU COULD to a Stranger in much worse circumstances than your own. Giving and not expecting anything in return is a rare action in the Best of Times.
Please Continue Giving What You Can.
Thank you so much. I’m a social worker in a very wealthy state. We don’t have enough housing partly because wealthy people have purchased extra houses and other’s mobile home parks, to feather their wealthy-already nests.
Those folks should pay extra taxes on their wealth so that govt s in small communities can create safe housing for homeless folks, build networks for unhoused teens and others of all ages, to have warm, clean safe places to rest overnight. Every night. Until state funded education can be attended to lhelp unhoused folks get skills necessary to move into their own lives ! Without standing in the cold rain hoping someone will hand them enough cash to get a bowl of warm soup for ten minutes indoors …
Our beautiful country is truly lopsided with the HAVES & the Don’t ever get a hand up. We in the middle are struggling to avoid sliding into the homeless
Yes indeed it is a complicated mess only made worse by the further concentration of wealth and so many other lopsided variables. I very much appreciate your thoughts.
Just one of many painful lessons this sweet girl will learn that will leave her speechless. Some facts are so foreign, so incomprehensible to children -- what can they say? Even as adults we face the unfathomable, don't we? It is sometimes hard to accept, but it is part of the human condition. A very moving tale, Mark. Thank you.
Thanks Sharon, you are so on the mark - incomprehensible to both kids and attentive adults.
Yes. Attentive being the key word…
1. I share your abhorrence for driving in cities, on interstates, etc. 2. Belle has inherited her grandpa's empathy and compassion. 3. She will remember your generosity AND your honesty with her, about painful truths.
Thank you for the encouragement, Jeanne
You reminded me of the day when my daughter Helen was two years old, riding on my back as we walked through the town common and past a World War I field cannon. “Daddy, what is that?” There was no good answer.
Trying to explain the inexplainable - in this case a very sad challenge. Thanks Steve
She will remember your kindness in your time of voice. And she will remember the image of an older man standing in the median
Thanks Carol
Isn’t it funny how you ended up in that place, not only for the lesson for your granddaughter but for the chance to give that man a few dollars.
George
Thanks George, At the end of my recent post about - Being spared again, I closed it by writing something to the effect that - I'm making more room for divine mystery nowadays. Well, I've just made some more room.
Reality is difficult. Certainly, we wish differently but my youngest sister spent 4 years homeless. I did what I could to help her without it becoming a dependency. It is hard knowing a person you grew up with is one of those. Last I heard, she is living on land she purchased with her share of inheritance in the motor home our parents passed down to her. Her mental illness is so cruel towards me that I am better off with minimal contact. She doesn't believe there is a problem with her way of thinking; and she has been that way for so long, I have little hope she will ever emerge from what is likely paranoid schizophrenia. Sadly. At this point, I have to take care of my own mental health, when it comes to contact with her. Sometimes, what we can do for another person is so very limited. What you could do for that man was limited. That you gave him money, I admire.
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister Deborah - that is a really tough challenge. The devastating effects of mental illness seem to compound with age and the social net to care for people with these diseases is so limited. Sometimes the costs of trying to care for someone are so great emotionally that both parties end up losing. Thank you for your perspective - that's a heavy burden to carry.
Thanks for understanding.