Having everything I need
This week there have been one or two days of bitter cold, you know the ones where your fingers won’t work because they are too cold, where the wind manages to find that one gap in your clothes and whips in and you feel chilled to the bone. This change to the weather affected my week in a rather odd way. I wonder if having everything is enough…
My route to work now involves a walk across the town centre and you begin to see the same faces, all going about their business. One man I see most mornings and evenings is a homeless guy who props himself up against the metal telecom box on the corner of the street, sometimes with others ,mostly on his own using folded cardboard boxes to try to insulate from the cold. This week on Tuesday, as I walked past he was covered from head to foot in a large black blanket rendering him pretty much invisible to those who passed by. The only visible part of his body were his hands that were raised above the cover seeking warmth from the air vents of the shop. I walked by…. like most …. but this image stayed with me throughout the day and especially on the return journey to my car at the end of the day where I cursed that I hadn’t brought gloves with me. As if having everything is something we all wish. I made it to the car and turned the heating on full blast whilst I waiting for my daughter. To get my hands warm I extended them towards the air vents where they quickly warmed up and feeling returned to my fingers. I had been out in the cold barely 20 minutes and yet I couldn’t feel my fingers. What about that man on the street corner, how long was he there without the privilege of a warm air vents in a car blasting out heat or gloves?
Thanks anyway...
I am reminded ,whilst writing this of my Grandma who on being asked by a homeless man for some “spare change” refused to give it to him and instead took him for a meal. Now whilst her intentions may have been good her insistence that she knew what was best for this man at that particular point could have been seen as high handed and arrogant.
I didn’t want to assume I knew what would be best for this man but I knew I wanted to do something, so next day, on my way to work I called in to the supermarket on the way and bought 4 pairs of gloves, (two in a pack one lot fingerless the other full gloves) with the intention of giving this man a pair.
He wasn’t there on the way in but was there on the way out but this time surrounded by 3 other people, also seemingly homeless. I wavered unsure of what his reaction would be but decided that waiting until he was on his own wasn’t an option ,as I wouldn’t be there until the following week and it was cold already. I wonder if having everything is enough?
I approached the group who looked wary and asked him if he could do with some gloves. I explained what I had seen the previous day and that it had affected me and therefore felt I had to do something. He took the gloves (as did 2 of the other people ). One man refused the offer saying he already had some but thanks anyway.
I have everything I need...
Retracing my steps I came across another gentlemen again sitting on cardboard ,wrapped in a blanket ,at the foot of the steps leading up to the supermarket. I have seen this man here plenty times before so asked him the same question. “Do you need a pair of gloves?” He smiled and and answered “yes I do actually ” I apologised as I only had fingerless ones left but he quickly put them on and smiled at me again. What he said next rocked me ” do you know” he said,” I’ve got a scarf, hat and sleeping bag …. I have everything I need but I haven’t got a pair of gloves so thank you.” I am amazed that having everything that this man need makes him content.
“I have everything I need” … Clothes he was sitting in, a sleeping bag and a tin of tobacco.
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” Ghandi was right when he said these words . This week I have learnt that a small gesture can affect people in very different ways. Yes I felt a sense of having done the right thing, I also felt that I was also just as bad in decision making as my grandma is that I had assumed what this man needed, however it is really the words of the second gentleman that has ” shaken ” my world .
We take for granted shelter, food and warmth and yet this man “had everyone he needed” .
The next time I see the first man I will ask ” what do you need ?” And see if I can help in some small way.
“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ”
― Buckminster Fuller
Why I do the work I do...
Hopefully you’ve found this post interesting and I hope it gives you an insight as to why I run Heartfelt Ways.
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