Are You An Angel?

I saw a homeless man on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo.

I had just pulled my car to the side of the road and I was digging through an ashtray filled with coins as I watched the dirty, old man push his shopping cart from one garbage can to another.

The man appeared to be about ten years older than me.

I sipped my $4 coffee and watched as he struggled with discarded pizza boxes, plastic grocery bags and God knows what else. He came out of the trash can with a Pepsi can that had been squeezed a little too tightly.

He spent a couple of minutes with the can between his gloved-covered hands in an effort to get the can back to some sort of cylindrical state so that he could turn it in for a nickel.

We have a garage filled with garbage bags that hold cans that my kids are too lazy to take to the store.

I grabbed a couple of the quarters to feed the meter and then I considered my wallet.

I extracted a ten-dollar bill.

The man was about fifty feet away as I slipped the quarters into the meter and locked my car with the remote button.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

He wasn't going to ask me for even a nickel.

He didn't have to.

I had him covered.

When I got close to him it occurred to me that he was actually closer to my own age.

He also looked like he was of Italian descent.

"Good morning," I said.

"Morning," he answered, but his eyes darted to the sidewalk and then to the next garbage can.

"Here," I said.

I extended the folded ten toward him.

"No, no, no," he said.

"Take it, 'Have a good day'," I said.

He accepted the bill.

He finally looked down and his eyes widened when he saw that it wasn't just a single.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Just wanted to say, 'Have a Good Day'," I said.

"Are you an angel?" He asked.

"Now I can eat," he added.

He actually said:

'Now I can eat'!!!!

"Thank you," he softly said, but I was already moving away from him. I was doing it quickly, however, and not because he scared me or because I didn't want to be near him...

...but because I could tell that he felt a little bit ashamed.

I could see the shame in his eyes. I heard it in his voice when he asked me if I was an angel.

For a minute I felt so badly for him and I actually wanted to know why he was where he was, but instead I walked away.

"Thank you," he called again.

I will never know that man's story, but I'm ashamed that we live in a country where so many men like him are simply discarded.

I know, I know...

...He should become the C.E.O. of something through hard work...

...but it doesn't work that way for everyone.

God Bless Him.

And the millions like him.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My Buddy, Dave

Mom & Ollie

Eyes on the Horizon