Homeward Bound

It's all too easy to get lost in your own troubles in this twisted game of life.

Despite primarily great things happening in my life, I've been feeling very overwhelmed lately.  A lot of hard choices have presented themselves, and I'm sure I'm over analyzing them, but being a married man automatically makes any decision making process more complicated.

Anyway, the fact of the matter is that I was really overwhelmed last night and was not in the mood for anyone's guff one way or another.  While walking through downtown Pittsburgh on my way to meet my wife, a little kid asks me if I've got any spare change.  I almost never carry cash on me, and last night was not an exception, so I very honestly told the kid that, "Sorry, I don't."

I didn't even lose my stride, but it only took a moment for everything to sink in.

The kid was only 8-10 years old, and his eyes and cheeks were flushed red from crying.  In spite of my horrible mood, I turned around and asked the kid what he needed the money for.  He explained to me he needed it to catch a bus and go home.  I didn't ask why he didn't have the money.  It wasn't important.  Besides, I remember being a scared kid in safer environments.


I told him to wait where he was - that I was going to meet my wife at her job, grab some spare change and be back in just a few minutes.  It was only a matter of a few blocks.  Everything went according to plan, and I handed the $2 to the young man, made sure he had a cell phone and made sure he was in contact with his mother.

It's possible the kid was playing me.  After all, there are beggars-by-night in the city who hold very prestigious day jobs.  But hey, why spend yours when you don't have to?  Still, this was a kid - not a grown man; and I'd rather be played for $2 than to give in to cynicism and risk reading about the kid's horrible fate in the next morning's newspaper.  A child's life is worth at least the cost of bus fare.

The whole experience helped me put the real world into a better perspective, and my bad mood gave way to a much better one.