Usually we want to leave ourselves a way out—an escape route in case things don’t go as planned. But every now and again we commit ourselves entirely, all in and no backsides.
To whom or what have you committed yourself irrevocably?
3 thoughts on “Throwing Away the Key”
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A career change. The first career suited the me that was back then. But I changed, and the “rules” involved in practicing that former profession changed. Although I made good money for many years, much of which I invested (so I could afford to turn to something less lucrative), the first profession was no longer a good fit. So I took the plunge and found myself feeling much more fulfilled.
I have committed myself to stopping and helping those who say they are homeless, standing on a corner with a cardboard sign saying “HOMELESS: HELP: GOD BLESS”. These episodes have turned into very different kinds of experiences. One was a woman from out of town who came on the train and expected to find lodging, etc. After I helped her search, the only recourse that I could come up with was to help her get on a bus and return to St. Louis. The other recent episode was a couple shivering on a corner, covered in blankets, and who said they needed help because they didn’t have money for their next night’s motel cost. I discovered that the owner of the motel knew them since they stayed there intermittently: the other thing that I learned was that they used marijuana and were job hunting but I’m almost sure they were not fit for employment. We have a working group here in our city and meet and discuss homeless problems but I have not found an answer to the kinds of problems I’ve encountered with these individual cases. Therefore, I am saying that I am committed to trying to solve these kinds of problems for “homeless”? people but I need to find better ways to do it.
I can identify with the frustration. There is a man I often see begging on the closest big, busy street to where I live. I can’t believe he’s still alive. He is so thin he looks worse than some of the pictures we have seen of the people liberated from Nazi camps after WWII. Most parts of his limbs look like broom handles with skin stretched over them. Also he is crippled in his legs and arms as well. He walks with a limp. One arm seems to be permanently bent at the elbow. If I hand him a piece of paper money, he can’t grasp it in his hand in the usual way. Rather, he sort of clamps it between two fingers that are held out straight. I called a division of the mayor’s office that deals with people that need help. I left a message saying I was not sure the man was homeless, but described the man. The guy from the Mayor’s office left me a message that he would pass the info along to the homeless outreach program of the police dept. But he needed better description of how they could recognize him since I wasn’t sure of his race. I called back and left a message that you couldn’t miss him, said about the broom handles, limping, etc. and locations where I’ve seen the man. Never heard anything more, and the man is still begging. It could be that the man refuses help (as many mentally ill homeless do). But it just seems that, of all people, he should be helped. But how? Do you have any ideas?