I wonder why...

It has been a couple weeks since my last post. I have gone to the shelter every week with my socks to hand out...there is so much pain there...

I went on a Monday one week and met an entirely different group of people. One gal, about my age, crawled out of a dirty broken down van. She is one of the 'rich homeless' that has a running vehicle to live in. She told me her name was Gypsy Rose, and she was once a 'dancer in New York City'. This woman was rough. Her hair was matted, her clothes wrinkled, her body vi sable with dirt. She asked me to comb her hair for her so I did. During that fifteen minutes she told me she had been a jockey in England for year....now I was beginning to wonder if she was part of the mentally ill who are homeless or a woman with a wonderful past of adventures. If she were the later...why was she homeless? What had happened to her. We hugged as we parted way; I may never know the truth of her situation. I wonder why.

The Monday visit also brought a little old man, about 4 foot tall, with a walker. I asked him if he is "inside or outside", which is the polite term for finding out how down and out a person is. He is outside. I gave him a pair of socks and helped him get his zipper open to put them in his bag. He was about 80 pounds of hunched over arthritic bones so I asked if he needed help getting upstairs to the lunch about to be served. He thanked me with the reply "I am used to this, I will be fine". How can be 'okay' when he needed help with a zipper on his bag...I wonder why.

Going upstairs to the area they meet for lunch I was able to say hello to some regulars I had seen before. There were several families with small children. On the side tables were piles of clothing and shoes for the 'guests' to go though and take what they needed. The irony of the shoes were high heels...what are people thinking these homeless will do with high heeled shoes? The homeless walk all day to avoid a loitering charge..I wonder way.

I brought my husband along for one of my visits. (My hubs is the most wonderful, kind man in the world, with a heart of gold.) He was mortified to be there, he would not hand out the socks. He would not go in the building. He would not talk with the people. He was the most uncomfortable I have ever seen him. What makes it so difficult for good people to ignore the homeless. I wonder why.

I had not been able to write my feelings about the last two weeks until a dear school friend (we have know each other 50 years) sent me a 'you-tube' to watch today.
It answers all my 'I wonder why' questions...Here is the link to my enlightenment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YU0aNAHXP0&feature=email