What's in a home?

When you travel the same route every day, it is very easy to pass the same landmarks and the same people without even noticing. In a sense, you become immune to your surroundings and it just stops being a "thing," since it merely forms part of the natural environment around you.

Last August (2010), I started a new job, working as a teacher at a school about 20-30 minutes away, by car. (Isn't it interesting how we measure distance in time?)  It took me awhile to figure out the best route to get there from where I live, but once I did, I've pretty much stuck with it (barring traffic reports suggesting I take a different route).

Sometime around November, the self-proclaimed homeless man on a certain streetcorner along my route stopped being a random street presence.  Since I wouldn't always arrive at the traffic light when it was green, I would pass the time by looking around at the people in the cars around me and on the street.  He and I would exchange an awkward smile, awkward because, there I was, toasty in my heated car while he braved the cold outside.  Should I have felt guilty? Should he?  From that point on, every once in awhile, I would give him a small bottle of water, a piece of fruit, or a loaf of bread while I was stopped at that traffic light.  Like a carnivalesque toy that only plays when prompted by an inserted coin, upon receiving my small donations the guy would wish me a good day and tell me to stay safe. I would tell him to do the same.

One day in December, as I was driving to work, I noticed that the skies were looking ominous. By the time I arrived at "his" streetcorner, it was already drizzling. I happened to have an extra umbrella in the car (albeit neon pink and with one broken spoke), but as the light turned red, I rolled down my window and asked him, "Do you wannan umbrella? It's a little broken, but it still works..."  Walking over to take it from me, he replied, "Thanks! I ain't never had one of these things before."  As the green light signaled my departure, I thought to myself, "He's never had an umbrella? How is that possible?"  But then I realized that assumed commonalities among people are not necessarily common at all...that in this day and age, there's simply no place to close-mindedly determine that one's cover-of-the-book perceptions "must" be true.  (It's important to note that perceptions are different from judgments.)

Rather than make snap judgments about the situation, I have come to wonder about this guy.  Why is he not on that corner in the afternoons when I drive home?  Is "his" corner more lucrative than the one on the other side of the street, manned by someone else during the morning rush?  Where does he go after his "shift" is over?  And why, during the two-hour school delays because of ice and/or snow, was he not there? Where did he go?  And if he wasn't there during the delays because of the weather, then why was he there when it was raining?  I don't know the answers to those questions, but I do wonder about them.

******
In early January, in Columbus, Ohio, a homeless man made the national news for his "golden voice."  Ted Williams, a roadside regular, held a sign advertising his "God given gift of voice" when, one day, a journalist stopped to talk to him.  Not even two days later, a video showcasing Williams and his "golden voice" had become a YouTube sensation, boasting more than a millions hits.  A month and a half later, there have been more than 11 million hits on that video alone (not to mention the countless radio and television broadcasts on which he or his story has since appeared).  The Williams story is a story of an overnight dream-come-true.  Years ago, he had fallen prey to a world rife with alcohol and drugs and, though he was involved in radio, his environment caved in around him.  This was his second chance.

Immediately, he received offers for voice-over spots for commercials (like for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese) and for more permanent employment with the Cleveland Cavaliers, among numerous other offers.  He also became a homeowner, thanks to the generous support of the Cavs. Not even two months since being "discovered," he has been featured on television and radio, has reunited with his formerly estranged mother and children, entered and left rehab in Texas (a decision which came about too hastily, according to Williams), and moved to a sober house in Los Angeles, where he is currently trying to feel out the voice-over industry.
******

The week after this story hit the press, I was, once again, driving to work, a near-expired bag of tortillas on the car seat next to me.  I had planned to give them to the dark green windbreakered guy I saw every day, but as I approached the traffic light, it was already green.  Should I save it until tomorrow?  Should I just slow down?  I decided that, though no big deal for me to wait until "tomorrow," tomorrow could be a lot farther away for the guy, so I slowed to a brief stop to ask him, "Do you want some tortillas?"  Since he is always conscious of the traffic (he has to be), he ran over and gave me his usual, "Thank you, dear -- you stay safe now!" to the musical accompaniment of a car honking behind me.  Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?!  On a street where there are three lanes of traffic on either side of the median strip, someone has to impatiently honk their horn at someone who is giving food to a homeless person? Who does that malcriado [poorly raised person] think he/she is? SERIOUSLY?!  Honestly, would that person get in trouble wherever he/she was going for saying, "Sorry I'm late. I was stopped at a *green* light because the person in front of me slowed down to give some food to the homeless" ?? I mean, that person SHOULD get in trouble -- he/she should get fired for being a complete ignoramus!  But, alas, I'm not judging; I'm merely stating the facts... I'm not saying that the person is necessarily a bad person, just an ignorant one.

In the past several weeks, I've heard a few "Thanks, dear -- you stay safe"s and, lately, even without the exchange of something to eat or drink.  A couple of days ago, he saw me and I could see through my window that he was starting to chat, so I rolled down my window.
"It's supposed to feel like summer this afternoon, can you believe it?" he asked.
"No, I can't -- they say it's gonna hit 70!" I replied.
"And then they're calling for snow next week!  Only in Maryland.." he said.
"I guess so!" [And the light turned green.]
"You have a good day, dear!"
"You too!" And as I left, I rolled up my window, thinking...no one is above exchanging pleasantries with others.  Maybe I should invest in a bumper sticker that says, "Honk if you're a goose."  We'll see what that driver has to say about that.