Signed "The college student/blogger"

Whew I'm cuttin it close tonight but this will be posted before midnight! I'm in the midst of studying for a French "causerie" aka a forced conversation between you and a partner about a pre-selected topic on which you are graded by your instructor (I pretty much failed the last time as noted here) and basically things aren't lookin much better for this time. So since I have to get back to the grind I'll make this short yet poignant k?

As I was driving home from dinner tonight I was at a stoplight where a homeless man usually stands. I glanced to my left and he wasn't there but instead was a tattered pizza box, folded over onto itself and standing up with a message written on it, it said "Whoever stole my bag I forgive you, I hope you needed my dirty clothes and blankets" and was signed "the homeless guy" For some reason this really touched me, it was just one of those things that you see at the right time and it strikes a chord. I called my mom to tell her about just that but her response was to say that it was just a ploy. I am not naive and I don't usually fall for stuff like that but for some reason I just felt that this was true. Why would it be a ploy to get money if he wasn't even standing there with the box? At any rate it made me think of all the homeless people I have ever passed, people who were asking for nothing from anyone just huddled in a doorway (or sprawled on a sidewalk) to sleep, how we generalize and put all of these people into one category "the homeless people". This man has a name, a story, a life and something about seeing it signed "the homeless man" just hit me like a ton of bricks. Also not to be overlooked is the fact that this man who has nothing to his name other than what he can carry around with him can forgive someone for being such an ass and stealing his last earthly possessions that he wasn't physically wearing. Somehow it makes me feel more than a little ignorant for instantly hating someone just because they cut me off in traffic.

Does this mean I believe everyone who is on the street claiming to need money is legitimate? No. Does this mean I'm going to give money to every less fortunate person I pass? No. It just means that for a second I really thought about the individual I pass everyday as opposed to defining him by nothing more than the labels I ascribe to him and it made me want to be a little more forgiving of others. So if it was a ploy it was a damn good one. Thank you.

Hmm turns out it wasn't so short after all!