It's a Big 'Ol Circle

Wanna hear a bit of truth? Do ya?

You never know who you are going to meet or what is going to happen. You can’t tell who is going to step into your life, even if for the briefest of moments. And you never really know what you are going to do when faced with a decision, no matter how important or petty it is.

I was given eyes so that I may see today. I saw, I related, I acted. The initial decision that I made was not given a second thought. It was a no-brainer. Maybe, depending upon what you believe, I moved up a rung on karma’s ladder…got a star in my crown…filled a social need. All I know is that I have been given, and I had to give back.

I stopped for gas on my way home tonight. As I was making the left hand turn at the light near the gas station, my attention was drawn to two people, standing on the corner and holding a sign. As I moved through the turn, I could get a glimpse of the words written on the sign. “Starving makes me hungry”. The holder of the sign was a man who seemed to be in his early twenties, short dreadlocks draped upon his head, coveralls and sandals wrapped up the ensemble. Standing next to him was a woman, a little thin, but not skinny, with short stubby beginnings of dreadlocks, with a tank top, hat and jeans. I admit that I knew that I was going to do something for them as soon as I saw them, but the sign sealed it for me. I filled up with gas and by the time I was done, they had moved to a corner of the Wal Mart parking lot adjacent to the gas station. I pulled over and into a parking spot.

You know, when the woman came over to my bus window, she didn’t ask for money. She called me “brother” and after our hellos, I asked her what was up, what was the story. They were traveling and had made it this far and were doing what they had to do to keep going. I didn’t ask where they were coming from or where they were going to. I did ask about what they needed. Like I said, she didn’t ask for money. But she did ask for blankets or sleeping bags for them and two others who, because of the heat, were with their dogs in the truck they were traveling in. I knew I had lots of blankets in my bus. Some blankets that I had collected over the years, some of them hardly ever seeing use. I picked out four that I could give them. I remembered that I had some Diet Dr. Pepper and water on ice in the cooler. I gave them to them. I had some hot dog buns that were left over from lunch today. No hot dogs for them, but I gave the buns to them too. They were shading the sun with T-shirts. I threw them a tube of sunscreen.

I don’t go carrying around this stuff on purpose. Most of the stuff in the bus stays there, such as the blankets, but the sunscreen was left in there by someone else, the hot dog buns were from lunch, and the drinks were from my trip to the Cleveland greenway yesterday. I had no clue that I was going to be giving personal stuff to two total strangers. I just knew that these people needed and I was able to give what was at hand. I’ve been there. Not on the road without a home. Never been a nomad. Kinda like to stay close to home, ya know? But I have been in need and someone has been the giver to me, the taker. I have also seen pleas for help from a friend in another state, needing help, a place to stay…and was not able to do a single thing to help. But here, I would do what I could.

Mama Lou and Link. That was their names. Given names, made up names, I don’t care. They sounded all right to me. I gave them what they needed and I felt blessed to have been able to give. Even though I knew I was helping other people out, I couldn’t help wonder if I was partly doing it to help myself out as well...to get a lift out of giving someone else a lift. I thought that as I pulled away after wishing them luck.

Now the rest of this story wasn’t so “spur of the moment”. I was headed home. I wanted to get home. But from the time I left them I couldn’t stop thinking there was something more I could do. I didn’t have any money, and I had told them this. It was ok. I saw at least three cars stop and give them money, $5 here, $10 there. Campground fee money or liquor money? I didn’t care. I hoped they could make enough to find a place to sleep tonight…

I made it to Apison and it hit me. No, not a brilliant idea, but a raindrop. Then another, and a few more, then a bunch of them. That’s when the light bulb came on. No, still not the big idea, but one of comfort. The rain made me remember that I had some rain ponchos in the back of the bus, under the rear seat. The rain, the remembered ponchos, and the desire to turn around and give them to those people…THAT’S what brought about the last minute turn around. Necessity. They needed money sure, but I couldn’t give that to them. But there was one thing they needed that I could give them, and that was food and drink. I turned left and headed back to Ooltewah.

All the way I was thinking thought in my head. “What if they’ve already moved on?” “I wonder if they are vegetarians.” “Oh, I hope they are still there.” Almost a mantra, a prayer, I kept repeating, “Please let them still be there”. I made it to Ooltewah and quickly made my way into Bi-Lo. I picked up some water, trail mix, granola bars, cold sliced watermelon, some bananas, and some beef jerky, paid for it and almost ran back to my bus. I left there and after going through the traffic light, I saw they were still there, and their two friends had joined them, along with their dogs.

They saw me coming and I could hear my name being called out. Cool. I noticed that the sign said something different. “These are my friends. I made them myself”. I chuckled at the play on words and parked where I had before, got out, opened up the sliding door of my bus, and gave them what I had gotten. The ponchos, the food, the water. These they took with much appreciation. Before I left, I asked if I could take their picture. I warned them that it would probably end up on my blog. Mama Lou said that if it was anybody else, she would have told them “Hell, no!” But they sat down with their sign and their dogs and granted me my request.

I was done. I had given what I had to give and had nothing else. I wished them luck, told them where the Salvation Army shelter and Community Food Kitchen were located and got in my bus, fired her up, and with a wave of my hand and with “Bless you, brother” ringing in my ears, I drove away, most likely never to see these people again.

I felt good. I had always said that if ever given the chance, I would give back what I have been given. I don’t stop for every person I see standing on the street corner with a cleverly written sign. I don’t know if I related to these people as those I would have been hanging out with in the frazzled fuzzy days of the early nineties. Dreadlock dude with beard…free-spirited sprightly females…you remember them, don’t you? I don’t know why, but I just saw these two and knew that I was going to do what I could for them. Chock it up to a little bit of human compassion. If you don’t know what that is, look it up and try it sometime. You just might like it.

Going home, I passed a house where Ron, an old acquaintance of mine lives. As I passed, I heard a “Hoot!” I had been invited to stop in before, but just never had or took the time. I took the time this time. I got there and started catching up with the past. Come to find out, he rooms with another blast from the past, a guy named Shane. In the conversation, and after others arrived, I was invited to stay for supper. I didn’t have any plans for supper; in fact, I was eating on a bag of beef jerky I had gotten for myself. I wasn’t sure I would stay, but when I was asked a second time, I decided that I would. I ended up having cheese-stuffed hamburgers and homemade tater tots. Never had homemade tater tots before, and let me tell you, these are not O’Reida tots. No. But they were “All-Righta”, that’s for sure. I need to tell Shane that if he isn’t planning on keeping the lovely lady who concocted this meal, then he needs to think again.

What goes around comes around. Karma. Doing unto others as I would have done unto me. Some kind of psychoanalytical babble theory on the relativity of returns…I don’t know. I just know that I was given, I gave, and I was given again. At all three stages, the mood was appreciation and happiness. When I was in need and was given to, the appreciation of being helped caused happiness. When I was able to give, I was happy to do so and appreciated what I do have. When I was given back, I was appreciative and happy to have re-connected with the past in the form of friends. And I even received the gift of a cactus…

What’s going to happen to Mama Lou and Link? I don’t know. I didn’t ask where they were headed. They wanted to head downtown and I gave them information as to where they could get other help. Shoot. I work downtown, not too far from the Salvation Army and the Community Kitchen. Maybe I’ll see them tomorrow with their dogs and their sign, looking to get a few more miles down the road, maybe with a few more “self-made” friends, and hopefully not “hungry cause of starvation”…I wish them luck.