HE CAME INTO MY LIFE....

He came into my life....it was pure serendipity. What were the odds?

I was walking east on 57th St. towards 6th Avenue and he was standing on that corner. He was waiting for me...well, not just me. He was a black man maybe just past middle age. He had a cane, and a styrofoam cup. He had a pleasant smile as I approached. He was asking for some monetary assistance. Yes, he was a beggar, and almost certainly a homeless beggar. I can't imagine that he is feeling too good about that. No one opts to live in the streets asking people for money.

I know, I've heard it all. "If we give money to people on the street then they will realize that they don't need a job after all; It might even encourage more to live on the streets". And anyways..."it's my money and I worked hard to get it..."

Really? I don't even know what "hard" is. I don't know this man's history but I almost certain that it was nothing like mine. Did he have two loving successful parents who enrolled him in a good school and who nourished him and put him through college? Does he have anyone he can rely on in his life? If, when a young kid, this man was able to look into the future to see that he was going to be living a life as a beggar, living on the streets...he would have been horrified. No one wants a life on the street......it's quite possibly the very best he can do.

So, I'm giving this guy the benefit of the doubt. I owe it him; we all owe it to him.

He was hoping for a quarter maybe...a dime would be good, too. This was my chance....it was my lone opportunity to do something (incredibly small) to not only help this man in his daily grind for lunch money, but also an opportunity to know that someone cared about him.....that he wasn't just a nuisance on the street that people dare make eye contact with.

"life is about the opportunities, even the one we miss" - F. Scott Fitzgerald

I had just come from a nice meal at the Viceroy hotel. A chicken Caesar, a side of asparagus, and a few Coca-Colas. I checked my twitter feed just after I paid my bill and I was on my way home to a warm bed, a shower, and the promise of a new day where I had opportunity and privilege in abundance.....not because i am a better person than this man.....who knows what I would have done with my life had I not been born on 3rd base (as I was). It's not that hard to get to home plate when you start at 3rd base. This man was almost certainly on the end of the bench from the first moment he took a breath of life...

My choice is...do I see this man as something and someone else...an inanimate object that is taking up space on the sidewalk, or do I see him as being connected to my life in a very real way?

I gave him a 5 dollar bill. Nothing special at all...it won't make the slightest dent in my portfolio....5 bucks won't even buy me a sandwich at Subway. Surely he was worth that much. The "standard" is very different, though. The standard in our society says that there is no burden on us whatsoever to give this man a penny, or even a friendly smile. Giving this man 5 dollars is surely not something this man expects....it's not like he was playing the banjo or the saxophone for his money. He was just asking a person who has never known hunger for a moment...never known a life without love or someone who cared for him, never had a night without a roof over his head. He was asking me to notice him.....and he was giving me the opportunity to reflect for a brief moment on how incredibly lucky I am to be where I am in life...and to not be where he is.....

I probably spent about 5 seconds of my time pausing to get a 5 dollar bill out of my wallet. What an incredibly small part of my finances to spend confirming another person's existence.

Someday I want to live in a world where the standard of behavior is such that walking by this man thoughtlessly is far below "the standard".