“A few minutes after leaving the park, we came across a man who was sitting on the grass and crying. He was missing a few teeth in front of his mouth and was surrounded by a few meager possessions. He told us his name (let’s call him James) and that he had been living on the streets for awhile. His wife had left him, he had no job, some of his belongings had been stolen and he exists hand to mouth. We gave him a small amount of money, the food we had remaining in our coolers, a t-shirt I had brought along; but perhaps, even more than that, a sense of hope for a better future.
As we were talking with him, a car pulled up and two young women came out and offered food and clothes as well. One confessed that if she didn’t have family support, she too might have become homeless. It occurred to me that we all are James—frightened and faith-filled, wounded and willing to be more than that.”
A true story Edie wrote about in Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Read the full story in her column at the Elephant Journal.
