This is dedicated to all those who have found themselves alone with no one to turn to.
We have all felt the need to seek a someone to listen to our problems and for most there is someone there to say "everything will be alright, you'll see." But for others...there is no one. These are the homeless, the "street people" as they are better known....the "bums"...as they have been labelled by many of those who are uneducated to the harsh reality of the homeless.
My heart aches for these people...yes I consider them that...people. They do not choose to live in such a fashion. Most want to function as a "normal" part of society...if there is such a thing, rather than be to a burden.
Many times I have dropped change into an outstretched hand covered in tattered gloves...and received a warm smile and a "thank you" in return. The eyes that search out a friendly face are full of pain and disgrace not wanting to be there...not wanting to be the subject of ridicule and slurs from the more fortunate...being harassed and even victimized.
I have made many friends over my lifetime...rich, poor, educated, not so educated. I have very few regrets in my life except perhaps not being able to help put an end to homelessness.
I have many fond memories growing up as I child and even though I do not come from a wealthy or even remotely rich family, in the monentary sense of the word, I am wealthy in compassion and love. My mom, whom I love so dearly, always taught us that there is always someone that is less fortunate then we were. At the time she as I summed it up, was preaching this to us I thought how terribly wrong she was. That our family was the poorest in the world.
At the age of twelve I received my "reality" check. My favourite hang out was an abandoned raikway track that runs behind the Holiday Inn in the city where I live. It was a place where I could sit and dream about the day these tracks would lead me away from poverty. That is when I met him....Teddy...he was a derilect, and his home was a cardboard hut.
When I first met Teddy I was afraid of him. He was tattered and scruffy. His face unshaven but his eyes were like none I had ever seen before. The pain they held was too much for one person to possess and yet, there was an immenent twinkle just the same. For two years I used to visit Teddy and he would tell me stories of how he managed to survive from year to year. I introduced some of my friends to him and he would entertain them with a "Mr. Bojangles" type dance. It was the only way he knew how to repay my friends and I for being his friends."
The winter 1970..was not so fortunate for Teddy..Teddy could not find a shelter to keep him out of the bitter clutches that winter held onto her victims with. That winter Teddy froze to death in his cardboard home.
I am now a mother with children of my own and have taught them to respect and love. To feel compassion and empathy for all creatures great and small. My mother's teachings to my siblings and I have been the foundation of my heart, soul, and spirit and I have passed these down to my children.
