By Naomi Vargas, Lifestyle Writer
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.”
This unattributed quote has become my favorite. It takes nothing and can turn someone’s entire day around.
I recently went to Dollar General, where a young boy was outside asking for money. I cried inwardly and thought to myself, This is someone’s son. I immediately went inside and grabbed bread, bologna, cheese, and some chips, and marched to my husband who was pushing the cart. He told me, “We came for detergent. Why are you getting this stuff? We have it at home.” To which I replied, “The young boy outside!”
He lectured me the entire time we were in the store and explained that the boy does not want food, he wants money to buy his next fix. My husband put the food back and I was so upset I left immediately to the car and sat there pouting like a child, arms crossed and breathing angrily while I waited for this mean husband of mine. My husband paid and walked out directly to the boy and handed him a couple of dollars, then got in the vehicle with me.
I said, “Can you imagine not bringing him food? He is cold, sad, and hungry. What can he possibly buy with $2?” My husband ignored me and just drove home.
I have been dwelling on this and have been by Dollar General several times in search of the blue-eyed boy; I have yet to see him again.
Years ago, I read an article somewhere that stated that God sometimes comes and dresses as a bum, a homeless person to see if you will be kind enough to help Him. I cannot pass one single person like this without remembering this article. So now in my mind, I am damned to hell because I did not do the right thing.
Ever since I saw this boy and another who was living by the railroad tracks in a little ditch, I wonder to myself how does a person get here? How does one’s child get to this breaking point?
I play the lottery often in hopes of having enough money to help these lost souls. My mom always asks me, “Do you think they want to be helped?” I think, Of course they do; they just need someone to be kind to them. If my son was lost like that, I would hope someone would give him a sandwich or a coat.
These poor lost souls, I wish I could reach them all and change their lives for the better. How hard must their lives have been to have landed themselves in a rut where they cannot find their way out? In a perfect world, we could all help one another and not feed out poison so they would not end up on the corner by Dollar General asking for a dollar.
In a perfect world, we would know these are all God’s children and we would keep them from getting there in the first place.
