ecoTrain Speaks: "What is the greatest gift you ever given?" by @tim-rumford
ecoTrain Speaks: "What is the greatest gift you ever given?" by @tim-rumford
This was a tough one for me. I look at the act of giving as a two way street. We give something we also receive something. It makes us feel good. It may bolster the way we feel about ourselves. This is not a bad thing but something to be aware of when giving.
For instance I thought about the 18 years I have given to my rescued bird Blue. But he has given me so much more.
I thought about the year I spent doing a food program for the homeless once a week feeding 50 people and in the Winter giving out socks and sleeping bags.
I thought about the love and devotion I have given which also brought up memories of failure in that regard. A long story for another post.
How do I pick one? How do I rate the importance? How do I weigh and judge? Small acts of kindness can do amazing things. Maybe some small gesture I made changed someone's life and I will never know. I think the person receiving could answer this question better. In the end I choose a simple story of giving that had an impact on me.
One particular incident that came out of my program feeding the homeless sticks out to me. There was a young man who came every week. He was new to the streets. He was kind but was hanging out with some people he should not be. I knew it was drugs. This is nothing new you see it everyday. But there was something about this guy I could not shake. He wasn't chronically homeless yet. I made an effort to speak to him and get to know him. He was a vet recently returned from Afghanistan where he had lost a leg. He never returned home to his family. He felt ashamed at what had happened while he was serving. He could not bring himself to face his mother.
After he opened up to me he started volunteering every week helping me serve up soup on the streets and cleaning up. He never missed a week. Soon he told me he recently had become addicted to heroin. He wanted to stop. I offered him shelter but he refused it. I offered to get him into a program, he politely declined.
After weeks passed I noticed he was no longer hanging out with the particularly negative crowd. No, he was mostly by himself. He came to me and said he was ready to go home but he wanted to kick first. I offered again shelter or help getting in a program. He again politely declined. He was going to kick by himself under the bridge. He only wanted me to bring him food and reading material. And so, I did. For about 9 days he lived under the freeway overpass. I worried for his safety. I made sure to stop by twice a day with some food and books. We would talk about what he was reading and how the night had been.
The first 4 days were horrible. I had seen this before. Mostly I had seen people fail. He was sick and I was worried. Under this bridge was a place people often went to shoot up. And it was no place to be at night. But slowly he came out of it and the 9th day he emerged, clean, he finally accepted my offer to come to my house take a shower and get his things in order before going home. I'll never forget him calling his mom. There were no dry eyes in my house that day.
The next day I took him to the bus station and Eric went home where he needed to be. I felt very humbled. He gave me a big hug and a thank you I will never forget.
So what did I give Eric? Just my time and friendship. Some food and good books. It was him the did the real work. I take no claim to that. But having worked with many homeless and finding them housing and having them return to the streets, often to die, there was something... fulfilling to see what became of Eric.
This is Eric the day I met him. I mulled over posting his pic. In the end I decided to hide his face as this happened many years ago and it seemed unfair to post his image in such a way.
I'm not sure if this is the best thing I have given. But it is one that resonated with me on a deep level. And something that gave back to me in more ways than I can express in writing. Around that same time I saw many tragedies. A few people I knew and loved pulled from the bushes and their sleeping bags dead from drinking, exposure etc. It was Eric who provided me with some much needed light during a dark chapter on streets of Santa Cruz.
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Oh my goodness, no dry eyes here either. I want to thank you to. Indeed a gift for both of you. It's touching the most vulnerable aspect of human ness and the two of you met somewhere in that vulnerability. Wow. Thank you so much for sharing this. This Question of the week thing is bringing out some gems.
Thank you for the comment and reading it. If it made you feel emotional then I guess I did a good job. I still get emotional just thinking about it all.
Yes the question of the week has been great! I have really enjoyed reading them all and I still have comments to leave.
💕🌈
Good Job Sir!
it is a shame when you think about how many young man get lured into service just to let them hang out dry when they come home and need help. If you look back to the Vietnam war and how many of the kids came back just to end up on the streets. And it happened all over again and again. If it where not for people like you that stand up and help - no matter what - there would be no hope for the people on the street.
Even here in Germany where you have a better social net from the government so many fall all the way down. The knots are to far apart. And when they arrive at street level it is to hard to come up again. Sure enough alcohol and drugs do the rest. Most people think these people are only bums and it is there own fault. But that is wrong - almost all the time these poor people are sick and need help. But some decline like Eric did. Some decline until it is too late. And together with the wrong crowd they never make it back.
that's very true. Ive seen too many never make it back. Most of them due to alcohol. Most were old vets. The Old guard on the streets is mostly gone here now and slowly being replaced. Many of the people I fed when I was about 40 were people I had seen when I was a teen. Thanks for the comment!
When I was the 1st time in the US I travelled the country with my van. I was a child it was 1989. Most of them was Vietnam soldiers. I was not aware of this - we had no war since the second world war. I was shocked - i could now believe what was there to see. Keep going!!! :-)
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STOPWhat a story man, beautiful, i am sharing the wet eyes with @icmultitudes, this brings up a lot of emotions with me. I have been through a similar situation with someone i was close with. I wish i could write some good ending but no, my case goes in the 99% category where things don't turn out good. I am happy to read your story, I am sad thinking back about my story, this question of the week was a moving question. @gardenbsquared also stirred up my emotions. Phew, let's move on, @eco-alex, next question please...
you're making steemit a great community with your content tim-rumford! keep it up!
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