“There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.” Hubert Selby Jr., Requiem for a Dream
On the day before Christmas Eve, my son and I were part of the on-the-edge-of-crabby crowds in the stores and in the parking lots. At a stop light, my son took out a couple dollars for a young man standing with a cardboard sign. Cass had to call to him several times to get his attention. The young man moved toward us, oddly stiff. He spoke very softly then walked away, so stiff like there was something wrong with his body. Or was he just so cold? As we drove on, Cass told me, “His sign said ‘homeless with mother.'” If I had seen that was his story, I would have given him more. A grown son and his mother–we couldn’t stop imagining what more there was to the story and every possibility was painful.
On Christmas Eve morning, I went back to that corner to find him. He wasn’t there. That opportunity to help more was missed.
How often, we have a split second to offer help, to discern if we can help, or we turn away and perhaps then wonder what we might have done.
On this quiet night, peace, love and giving fill the air for some of us. There is a Jewish saying that if you bring peace to yourself, it is as if you bring it to the world. If you feed one hungry person it is as if you feed the world.
I guess this question of when and what and how to give has been around a long time. Maybe it is part of living in this world.
It is so much a part of working in schools where there is always one more thing you could do for a student — one more thing that might make the difference for that young person’s life.
Sweet post. Thank you Marjorie.