I Befriended A Homeless Man

J. Willoughby
Nov 12, 2016
3 min read

How can you worship a homeless man on sunday and ignore one on monday?

Unkown

I work at a retail store in my small hometown. We don't see as much homeless people as you might see in big cities such as Dallas or Atlanta but one thing I have noticed is that when someone who is homeless is noticed, more than half of town pitches in to help this person in anyway possible. The first glimpse of this man was at around four o'clock in the afternoon.

He came in with a buggy that held an acoustic guitar and a bag with his belongings. I greeted as I do all customers who walk through the door, rich or poor. He wandered the store a little while and came to the register with a pair of walking shoes in noticeably good condition.

"Sir, how much are these shoes?" The long-haired gentleman struggled to hold himself. I took the shoes from him and looked at the bottom where we price the shoes.

"These are $9.99." I replied. The look he gave me absolutely broke my heart.

"I thought they were only four dollars." He replied as he stared at the shoes. "They're good shoes."

As much as I hated to, If I sold those shoes, I would've had to sell them at the price my employer was asking for. He walked out. Later that night at 7:30, he stumbled in the door again with his guitar and bag.

"Do you have any blankets?" He said.

I walked him to the back where we keep out blankets. I made small talk asking him if he can play guitar well. He told me he had 50 years of experience; needless to say I was quite impressed. As we looked through the blankets, seeing the prices, I saw the despair in his face. After a short minute, I took $10 out of my pocket and gave it to him to get him a warm cover for the nights to come for these nights will become cold. He insisted that I picked him a cover and I picked the heaviest, thickest material I could find for under $10 dollars.

Before the night was over, I asked him if he knew God. He agreed. We even got on the topic about books. He enjoyed reading. He told me about two books he was reading and I told him about my book, Breaking Stereotypes. Considering one of the main supporting characters in my book is Sammy Hike, oddly enough, this homeless man's name was Sam. He told me to keep writing. He really enjoyed hearing about my book and thinks it will be a good one.

He came in today and told me that I saved his life by buying the blanket for him.

Moral of the story is this: You never know who you might find inspiring until you break the stereotypes. The light on this man's face now inspires me to keep helping others. I even found the courage to make a second book in sequel of my first book. Just might've been an angel to keep my mind focus amidst the distractions.

Stay true people.