another post i read here got me thinking...

i once met a man outside a convenient store who looked to be homeless, and he was. by choice.

i asked him if he needed soemthing to eat. he said yeah, that'd be ok. so i bought him some food and gave him some money. we talked for a bit.

he was an older black man, long gray beard, sweet eyes, soft spoken. he wasn't drunk or a derelect. he told me that he once had a good job and a beautiful house. no wife or kids. he got tired of the rat race. the working himself to death, the schedule, the traffic, the nasty people in the world, so he decided to quit. he left his job and his home and decided that he would see the country and live off the kindness of strangers. he was well spoken, well educated and said he'd never been happier in all his life.

some may say he's a burden to society. some may say he really is nuts. some may say he would take the money i gave him and buy liquor or drugs. i don't care what anyone else says. i'd say maybe this man was given a chance to get out and really live and he took it.

he said he didn't ask anyone for anything, but he found that in this great land there were kind people, people who were more than willing to stop and help and give, and give of themselves too. that he'd had some wonderful conversations with some very kind people. he didn't know what his future held, but that he knew he'd be ok.

i found it so refreshing. i've remembered almost every detail of that conversation and it's been over 10 years. i can still remember his kind sparkly eyes and his warm smile. i was embattled at the time in a very volatile marriage and it was a sweet connection to an honest person in a turbulent time in my life.

i know that there are so many who are homeless for so many reasons. he's the first person i've met who actually wanted to be that way. my husband calls me a bleeding heart, but he's getting better. yes, drug abuse and alcoholism take a terrible toll on families and society, i tell him, but there is generally an issue that leads these folks down that destructive path. i'm not excusing it - help is available if you can find it. but i don't know of anyone who wants to be a drug addict or an alcoholic.

i wonder what happened to that man. is he still out there? is he still alive? did he go back to his home and a job? or did he find the simplicity of life that so many of us are searching for and are never able to find???