I’m a single mom looking for a job. One morning I had grabbed my favorite spot at a local Starbucks and was going through the when I noticed a man in ragged clothing looking really untidy. I felt led to speak to this man and so I did.
I learned that he was homeless and just wandered from place to place. Starbucks was nice enough to allow him to come in from the cold or the heat depending on the day. I also learned that he used to be an architect, but as we spoke I saw more and more that he wasn’t at the fullest of mental capabilities.
I sat with this man for a very long time in Starbucks calling different clinics, hospitals, shelters, police departments. He even gave me a beat up business card of a gentleman saying that was his son’s phone number. It was an out-of-state number, but I called anyway but was not able to reach him. Unfortunately, all the places I called were unable to take him.
I asked him if he was hungry and he said yes, so I went down the street to a deli (熟食店) and ordered a sandwich and drink. When I got back, my new-found friend became angry for a reason I was not aware of or maybe it was some sort of mental disturbance. All I could do was set the sandwich down and told him that I’ll leave it there for him if he wanted it and I left. I walked around town for a couple of minutes and then headed back to see if he was still there.
A man who was sitting in Starbucks most of the time when I was there came out and told me that the man ate the sandwich and that he was touched that I had sat with him like I did. It seems to me that no matter whether something goes awry (非正常的) on the surface, there is always something beautiful at a deeper level.