I Believe In You

 

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”

~ Mother Teresa ~

One of my dearest friends recently posted the following personal story on Facebook: 

Jon and I shared some money with a homeless man yesterday. The man thanked me for being a 'good, Christian woman' and said he would pray for me. I told him that while I believe in prayers, I do not believe in God.

His eyes grew wide and he stood up and followed us to our car. "So what DO you believe in?", he asked.

I said, "I believe in you".

I spent the first 11 years of a career in the fire service working as a medic on one of the busiest rescues in town.  At the time, perhaps one of the busiest in the country.  The neighborhood I served was overpopulated with the "underprivileged", poor, and homeless.  Having come to Texas from a small town in the Midwest, the images I saw took some getting used to, to say the least.  It took some time and exploring many layers to understand the sadness of the downtrodden.

At first I was saddened by the large numbers of people who seemed to have had such rotten luck.  Over time (and I have no scientific evidence, merely my own experience to support this)  I learned that a VERY large portion of the homeless population where I worked were homeless by choice.  Or should I say, they STAYED homeless by choice.  For a long time this observation changed the way I viewed the plight of the homeless.  "If they choose to live that way," I would tell myself , "why on earth would I feel sorry for them?"  I used to give them money, then stopped.  I learned they usually bought alcohol with it anyway.  I started out treating them with gentle kindness, then stopped because they were "milking the system." 

Then one day, for no particular reason, a question popped in to my head that forever changed how I view the homeless and my fellow man.  "How many," I wondered, "of these homeless dreamed of this life as a child?"  I didn't interview any of them, but I don't have to to know the answer.  It's zero.  I feel certain that every single one of these fellow humans dreamed of being a doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer, firefighter, police officer or ballerina.  At the very least they grew up believing they'd have a good job at the factory or mill just like their father's before them.  Not one.  Not.....ONE, woke up one day in the third grade and said, "Boy, when I grow up, I wanna be homeless and live in a box!"  

For reasons many of us can never fathom, each of them either made a bad choice or had an undesireable choice made for them that landed them on the street.  There are huge numbers of drug addicts, alcoholics, bi-polars and schizophrenics living in cardboard boxes under a bridge near you.  But they didn't plan it that way.  And whether or not they have the option of changing their situation isn't for us to decide.  The most important thing is that we remember how things were for us as children and remember...."there, but for the grace of (insert your own deitic choice here), go I."  

It's complicated.  It really is.  And how I've felt about those living in shelters and on the street has changed over time.  Maybe most of them could reinject themselves into "normal" society.  Maybe not.  But complicated or not, my friends Denise and her son, Jon, simplified how we should feel about, not just the homeless, but each other with four simple words.  "I believe in you."

How many of these people would have had a different path altogether if a parent, teacher, or some other loved one had simply said and then demonstrated, "I believe in you."  How many of them would find the courage to get off the streets if more people like my friends gave them a hand up and said, "I believe in you."   Not, "get a job, you bum" or "why don't you take a bath?"  or "just say no to drugs and alcohol."  Just....."I believe in you."  Because in the end, isn't that all any of us really want?  Isn't being recognized as a valuable human being and being validated by just one caring person what matters?  I know it matters to me.  And I know it matters to those living along side the railroad tracks in a box, too.

You don't have to be a Christian to be loving.  All we really need is just to believe in each other, warts and all.  I believe in YOU, Denise, Jon and all your family.  You're a shining example of what each of us should remember.  Look for the best in each person you meet, and that's what you'll find. 

Love and Light,

Matt