A Thanksgiving story
11/22/2023
A Thanksgiving story.
I drove out to the San Joaquin County jail this afternoon to see two clients who are incarcerated there.
As I was walking through the parking lot headed for the jail entrance, I passed a group of young women and children holding signs that said “Welcome back Kevin.”
I visited with my clients for 2 hours.
When I got back to the jail lobby to sign out and to give back the visiting room key and get my ID, I saw 3 men waiting by the jail administration window. I asked the check out clerk if they had just been released and she said yes. Upon exiting , the people holding the signs were still happily there waiting. I told them that 3 men had just been released hoping one of them was Kevin.
I have never seen anything like that welcoming committee before in the 100s of times I have visited jails to meet with clients through the years. True Thanksgiving joy.
I got in the car and drove to a nearby gym that I am a member of. As I approached the entrance ,I noticed a man with a shopping cart standing about 40 feet away from the gym entrance at the end of the building.
I approached him and asked him if he would like a hat and a scarf. A friend of mine and her daughter, for the second year in a row, knitted hats for me to pass out to the homeless. This year they included a knitted scarf with the hat.
Just then, the gym owner, a friend of mine, appeared and told the homeless man the he had to leave. The homeless man said that he was waiting for a police officer to arrive. The gym owner became more insistent and the homeless man became more obstinate.
I had initially tried to explain to the gym owner that I was trying to give the man a hat and scarf. But, the gym owner made it clear he wanted no homeless people near his gym. My giving the homeless man the hat and scarf might encourage him to stay. So, I remained silent .
The homeless man then took off his black baseball cap and offered it to me. With the gym owner standing right there, I accepted the hat.
The homeless man and I had had an encounter. We were under fire, but we had an encounter. We healed each other. I had offered him a hat and a scarf. In thanks he, who had nothing else really but the baseball cap, gave it to me.
We could “see” each other.
End of entry
Note:
I have been working with the homeless off and on since 2017. They have stayed with me in my house for days or weeks. I have passed out bags with food, socks and toiletries in10 or 12 cities. I do it for the encounter. If they accept the bag, we have an encounter. They thank me, sometimes wordlessly, and in so doing heal me. They have shown ma a compassionate side of humanity I had not experienced before.
