Joe
Something peculiar happened to me today.
This morning as I was about to head to my car with my wife, we saw a guy with a shopping cart. He was in his late 40s with tats on his face. Perhaps to some, the way he looked was menacing. But as I made eye contact, I was drawn to one particular tat above his eyebrow that had the words "f*ck it". He was rummaging through our trash can for recyclable bottles and cans.
Today was trash day for our neighborhood so we had our trash cans out in the street.
He looked up surprised as we caught him looking through our trash can, but then his face suddenly changed as he saw me as though he saw a good friend.
The convo then went something like this...
"Hey, you're the guy that's part of that nic-nac church in downtown..."
"Yea, Love LA..."
"Yea! Love LA! I remember that message you gave awhile back- 'the power of the sun' and 'the world's strongest man'..."
"Cool!"
"I'll be there this Sunday!"
"Great! By the way, what's your name?"
"Joe."
"See you this Sunday, Joe!"
As we got into the car, my wife told me that we ought to give our recycle goods to him. We usually collected our recycled bottles and cans to later collect extra pocket money to buy a little treat for ourselves at the local grocery. We decided to give it to Joe so I ran back into the house, and caught up with Joe as he strolled down the street with his cart. I then handed the goods to him, he returned it with a big smile of gratitude.
I began to wonder what he did with the money that he collected from the recycled goods. Whether he used it for something that may be harmful to him. That I may be contributing to that harm. But then I thought again, what he was attempting to do was worthwhile. At least he was making some effort to earn some extra money even if it meant digging around for it in other peoples trash cans along the street.
I hope to see Joe at Love LA this Sunday. It reminded me of this one thing: we don't have to wait to go to Love LA, but that Love LA can and should come to us in our own everyday.
This morning as I was about to head to my car with my wife, we saw a guy with a shopping cart. He was in his late 40s with tats on his face. Perhaps to some, the way he looked was menacing. But as I made eye contact, I was drawn to one particular tat above his eyebrow that had the words "f*ck it". He was rummaging through our trash can for recyclable bottles and cans.
Today was trash day for our neighborhood so we had our trash cans out in the street.
He looked up surprised as we caught him looking through our trash can, but then his face suddenly changed as he saw me as though he saw a good friend.
The convo then went something like this...
"Hey, you're the guy that's part of that nic-nac church in downtown..."
"Yea, Love LA..."
"Yea! Love LA! I remember that message you gave awhile back- 'the power of the sun' and 'the world's strongest man'..."
"Cool!"
"I'll be there this Sunday!"
"Great! By the way, what's your name?"
"Joe."
"See you this Sunday, Joe!"
As we got into the car, my wife told me that we ought to give our recycle goods to him. We usually collected our recycled bottles and cans to later collect extra pocket money to buy a little treat for ourselves at the local grocery. We decided to give it to Joe so I ran back into the house, and caught up with Joe as he strolled down the street with his cart. I then handed the goods to him, he returned it with a big smile of gratitude.
I began to wonder what he did with the money that he collected from the recycled goods. Whether he used it for something that may be harmful to him. That I may be contributing to that harm. But then I thought again, what he was attempting to do was worthwhile. At least he was making some effort to earn some extra money even if it meant digging around for it in other peoples trash cans along the street.
I hope to see Joe at Love LA this Sunday. It reminded me of this one thing: we don't have to wait to go to Love LA, but that Love LA can and should come to us in our own everyday.
posted by bowen at 8:30 PM
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