Writings Of An Outsider Looking In

Don't We All

I was
parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash
and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way from across the
parking lot was what society would consider a bum.





From the looks of him, he
had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you
feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered.
This was one of those "don't want to be bothered times."




"I hope he doesn't ask me for any money," I thought.
He didn't.
He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop
but he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. 
After a few minutes he spoke.  "That's a very pretty
car," he said. He was ragged but he had an air of dignity around
him. His scraggly blond beard keep more than his face warm. I said, "thanks," and
continued wiping off my car.
He sat
there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for money never came.



As the silence between us
widened something inside said, "ask him if he needs any help." I was sure that
he would say "yes" but I held true to the inner voice. 

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

He answered in three simple but profound words that I
shall never forget.  We often look for wisdom in great men and women. We
expect it from those of higher learning and
accomplishments. I
expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand. He spoke the three words that
shook me.


"Don't we all?" he said.





I was
feeling high and mighty, successful and important, above a bum in the street,
until those three words hit me like a twelve gauge shotgun.



Don't we all?


I needed help. Maybe not
for bus fare or a place to sleep, but I needed help. I reached in my wallet and
gave him not only enough for bus fare, but enough to get a warm meal and shelter
for the day. Those three little words still ring true.

No matter how much you
have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too. No matter how
little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money
or a place to sleep, you can give help.
Even if
it's just a compliment, you can give that. You never know when you may see
someone that appears to have it all. They are waiting on you to give them what
they don't have.
A
different perspective
on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respite from daily chaos, that only
you through a torn world can see. Maybe the man was just a homeless stranger
wandering the streets. Maybe he was more than that.

Maybe he
was sent by a power that is great and wise, to minister to a soul too
comfortable in themselves.


 Maybe God
looked down, called an Angel, dressed him like a bum, then said, "go minister to
that man cleaning the car, that man needs help."



Don't we all

16.12.05 12:10