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Monday, February 9, 2015

But for the Grace of God . . .

Becca spotted this guy and his two dogs miles across the desert
On Saturday morning there was a homeless guy with a shopping cart full of his belongings not far from the Sunset Area trailhead.  JC and I said hello to him on the return leg of our hike.  I was surprised to find him in the same place this morning.  He greeted me by saying, "Good morning."  I said, "Are you staying out here?"  He said, "For a few days."  When I asked if it was cold last night he said, "I was surprised by thermal breezes that kept it pretty warm."  As I continued my hike with Becca I decided that I would give him some money on my return, and midway on our route I got my wallet out and extracted a $5 bill, putting it in my pocket.  When we ran into JC later he told me he had already given the homeless man $5.  So when we passed him again I gave him the $5 I'd taken out of my wallet, saying to him, "I hope it serves you well."  He told us he was going to do his laundry later today.  JC said, "Well, I hope you get a hamburger, too."  The homeless man assured us he would.  He was a pleasant, intelligent young man, and I found myself feeling sorry for him and wondering about his plight.  He had an army jacket resting on his cart, and I wondered if he was a veteran.  I'm a veteran, and I know there are a lot of veterans living on the streets.  Really sad.
Hiking the high foothills

Dog at work

Back behind the mountain

The rugged Organ Mountains

Tortugas (left) and the Organs

3 comments:

Scott said...

You're a good soul, Packrat.

packrat said...


Aw, thanks, Scott. There are other times when an aggressive panhandler has approached me when I haven't been so kind. Those are usually the people roaming around the supermarket parking lot trying to hit everybody up.

Dr. K said...

I'm glad you were so kind to that gentleman, Packrat.

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