Her Boots

-


This is a common sight on a lot of streets here in the wealthiest nation in the world.

A woman, probably around 50 years old, maybe a little older, camped by a guide rail under a street light. A sign made of cardboard that simply says:

“Anything helps!”

I handed her a couple of dollars, partly because it was windy and cold, but mostly because I felt miserable for her.

My window was down, and the guy in the car beside me yelled:

“She’s robbing you! Look at her boots. They’re brand new.”

I laughed.

I also looked at her boots, and was happy to see that they were sturdy and clean.

Yet, this woman was not scamming people. It’s hard to see all that she had gathered there in her spot, but she didn’t have a collection of fine art there.

Everything she owned was probably right there with her.

And I don’t know how people aren’t saddened by such a sight.

“We gotta’ get rid of the homeless,” some politicians rant. “We don’t want to see them on our streets.”

Why?

Embarrassed that policies and sheer lack of empathy is what put them there?

The guy who yelled about her boots doesn’t feel she deserves them…

…for some reason.

I have become fond of saying something that Mick Jagger sings in “Between A Rock and a Hard Place.”

“Put on a kind face.”

Shake my damn head…

…guy looked at her and was enraged…

…by her boots.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

There’s Still Greatness

-
Image
The other night I got home from work and Kathy and Sam were engaged in a game of backgammon. Sam had never played and wanted to learn. He got some late doubles and won his debut game. (I helped a little). And I thought of my buddy, Gag. We were roommates at Gannon back in 1983. We played at least 25 games of backgammon a night. By the end of the year he wound up beating me by just a couple of games out of a few thousand. That’s 60-year-old Gag in the photo - running the Disney marathon with his son, MJ - they do it every year. To raise money for Duchenne MD research. “He’s running again?” Kathy asked me as we talked about the donation.  “Of course.” “Italian men, man,” Kathy said. “You’re a stubborn, loyal lot.” “I ain’t running no marathons,” I said. “Gag is a maniac.” I enjoy following the posts as the run progresses - on Saturday morning I was fighting a cold or some such crap… …and they were running in the rain in Florida. There is a lot of negative energy in the news we see br...
Read more

Heart Heavy

-
A couple of things happened over the weekend. First off, I couldn't take sitting around not being a part of the world. I decided to forego a portion of my rest my sore tendon. I got up off the couch and headed to work. I just couldn't take what I was seeing on the news and feeling in my heavy heart. Just too much. I headed for the convenience store and my daily chat with a real nice lady who collects my money for the papers. I pointed to the headline about the president's speech on Sunday night. She started crying. I thought of my wife crying as Obama read off the names of the children. I thought of the Bruce song: This is a prayer for the souls of the departed, those who've gone and left their parents broken-hearted. Their lives over before they got started. This is a prayer for the souls of the departed. My boy was still waiting in the driveway for his bus to come. I wanted to grab him and hug him, but he's 15. He might have kneed me in a bad spot...
Read more

A Grand Time

-
Image
“Are You An Idiot?” was sort of a pop song in a career filled with more ambitious books, but it did something that none of the others did. It won the whole damn thing. We walked into the festival in the famous Academy room at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood (they film the Jimmy Kimmel Show next door) and Bruce Haring the event organizer greeted me with the news that I would speak last because “Are You An Idiot?” was the Grand Festival Award Winner. There were 9 festivals across the country that all had winners, including the Hollywood Beach Festival which “Are You An Idiot?” won. It was also chosen as the winner of all 9 festivals. Grand. I made a quick speech - it’s on my Author’s Facebook Page and then we called it a night. We have the Hollywood tour package in the morning and we are kicking around going to the Hollywood Bowl for ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ or the Santa Monica Pier. An awards show is a long night, and we heard from about 40 winners. A couple of the authors cried as the...
Read more