Meet Me at the Revolution

A homeless man made his way into my apartment building where he hid beneath a stairwell.  I suspected the man’s presence because of the body odor that drifted up the stairs and met me outside my door as I left to run an errand.

I set about my business tormented by the moral dilemma of the man’s presence.  Management had instructed all residents to call the police when these situations occur.

After completing my errand, I purchased a sandwich at the local convenience store and ran home to add fruit, cookies and a drink to the bag even though I did not know if the man would still be hiding there by the time I returned and made my way down the stairs again.

As I descended the steps, the man heard me coming and began to hastily layer on the clothes he had placed across the radiator to dry.  Also on the radiator were four squares of pepperoni pizza that I had seen earlier frozen to the ground next to our overflowing dumpster.  The man looked up.

“I am supposed to call the police, but I am giving you some food and asking you to leave,” I said.

“I understand.  I just came in to get dry.  I was so cold and wet.”

“I understand too,” I said.  I wish I could do more.”

“Thank you,” the man said as he held out a purse that he had rescued from the trash—a purse still in good condition. “Take this, he said.”

“Save it in case you need it later,” I said. 

I returned to my apartment and I cried.

Already on edge from the hideous state of our politics, the unraveling of the world order, and the heartless but understandable public reaction to the recent execution of an insurance executive on a street in New York City, I asked myself, “What to do?  What to do to live through such a desperate situation?”  How do I protect my soul in times as troubled as these when there are far too many with way too little and a notable few with far too much?  History has shown that it is an untenable situation. It is a recipe for revolution.

“Who will save us?” I asked myself as I looked into the twinkling Christmas lights.

And the voice of a revolutionary answered:  “Today I was hungry and you gave me to eat.  Come to me now all who are weary, and I will give you rest.”