Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Justa Pondering Moment

I'm sick as a dog tonight, been in bed most of the day. (Figures with me having to go take my Functional capacity test tomorrow). Any how, I have brought back that great sage momma to guest post.(Remember she has a capacity to stretch the truth when talking about me) I typed in red cause momma can't read any thing in red.Hi, all ( I can read red ..just an FYI) The wind is howling and it made me think about the news piece I heard on my way home from the gym a little while ago. It was talking about the volunteers for Salvation Army who are trying to scope out the Syracuse area to see how many folks are truly living in the streets. It makes me think about how close many of us are to being one of those people being counted. Many of us live looking forward to the next pay check. What if something tragically happened to the main money earner? What becomes of us? To have a job, to receive a paycheck, one needs an address. But what if that address gets taken away from us. The lenders are very friendly to us when they want us to borrow money from them, but how friendly are they when we can not pay them back? Am I tough enough to live literally on the streets? I think I am too weak to do that. I have a strong soul, but I do not know if it is strong enough to be intimate with that howling wind, the freezing temps, sleeping on vents in sidewalks, or hovered in a door sill. There is a man that stands at a busy intersection I pass through on my way to work. At times the light is red, and I am close enough to come in contact with him, if I have a buck or two I will hand it to him, he blesses me, he thanks me. I am amazed how someone who has obviously lost everything, how he has the strength, the determination and the courage to hold that cardboard sign asking for help. How he has the faith to say "God bless you" to me. I wonder, is he an angel , sent to test me? To test all of us? I ponder, could I do that? Could I stand there, at the bottom of the barrel , asking for help, being shunned by many, just asking for someone to help me out. Tomorrow is payday for me, but what if that paycheck did not come, and the next one did not come, what if there was no family to assist, what if.... and would I be able to hold the hand of the winter wind, dine with the ice and snow, what if. With hopes that the power stays on, with hopes that the homeless have found warmth somewhere, I sign off to go cook dinner and appreciate all we have. May God Bless each of you. Cindy

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow...that was deep...where do they get the marker? do theyall get one or do they have one down at the bum place that they share? who knows maybe the guy is loaded...if he can pull in a hundred bucks a day...tax free...and why would anybody want to be a bum in syracuse? there were bums in Key West...thats the place to be a bum...is there somesort of a senority system ...you just started..go bum in syracuse..i mean do they bid on better bum places..i love the sign will work for food...what the hell you think i'm doing..i mean he should read his own sign.are there bums in hawaii? if so how did they get there? bum a ride?? you know we all do what we have to do to survive...some of us won't and some of us will...when it all crashes down the street people will have a head start...thanks for the vine

Mark Krusen said...

Jackofall, It appears that you and momma don't agree on the plight of the "homeless". I have mixed feelings myself. I feel that most of us are just a job loss, an illness and or a divorce away from that being us. Then on the other hand, they're are people that do that and like you say are probably making a pretty good living. I agree also,if I was going to be a street corner mendicant I would do it in a warmer climate.