Why I am Creating This Blog

I was on the subway in NYC a couple of days ago and I saw a familiar sight. Everyone in NYC has seen this. Late at night, it seems to be worse than during the day. There was a begger going around, asking for money.

I was with a friend at the time and we (or she) was talking about something or other. Normally I'd be talking too, and perhaps just like her I'd pay little if any attention to the begger. But perhaps it was the vow of silence I'd taken for that week, or perhaps it was something else. Either way, something just really hit me hard in the heart about this guy. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't wearing any shoes, and that half of the toes on his foot were missing. Or maybe it was the desperate look in his eyes and the way everyone completly ignored him. I don't know. All I know is that I realized, I don't want to become a hard New Yorker who ignores the pain of others. But what can I do? Most likely, any money I give this guy will not really help him. Often homeless people use money for drugs, or things they don't really need. (Once while in Boston, I saw a begger come out of a store with a squirt gun. The same guy had been begging earlier in the day when I passed him.)

I've thought of other things too: What about giving them maps to the nearest shelter or food pantry? That is something I might still do.

So the point of this blog, then, is to make a difference. I don't know if this is something I will keep up with on a regular basis, but I will see what happens. Writing can change and influence people. This is just a simple blog and my voice is little, but perhaps something I write will affect someone somewhere.

I say, lets stop pretending that homeless people and beggers are beneath our compassion. Even if there's little we can do to help them, sometimes just opening our hearts to them is enough.