Last week, I took a long 9-hour journey by train and bus to San Francisco to visit my friends from camp. There, I rode in the Westin St. Francis glass elevator, visited City Lights Books (amazing!), toured a wax museum, took more modes of transportation then I even knew existed, and ultimately, had a great experience. The colorful old buildings, shiny trolly cars, and fashionable hipsters are only a few of the reasons why San Francisco is my favorite city. However, the majesty of the city couldn't prevent me from noticing the surprisingly large number of homeless people in San Francisco: sleeping bags on the streets, signs asking for money, or help, or beer, backpacks left momentarily while their owners wander, and hungry dogs tied to street lamps. One evening, while on Haight Street, my friend and I passed a man who couldn't have been older than 25. He was sitting on the sidewalk with a guitar on his left, a sign asking for money or a cup of coffee on his right, and a book in his hand. As we passed, I got that gut-wrenching feeling of guilt and wishfulness that I could help. I was wearing a sweater and a coat and I was freezing, I couldn't even imagine how much colder the air must have felt to him, in ragged clothes desperately in need of a washing. I took a look at my friend and could tell that she was thinking the same thing. Wordlessly, it was decided that we would both chip in and buy him a large mocha latte... extra hot. After stopping in a small cafe, we walked quickly back to the spot where the man had been sitting, hoping that he would still be there. He was! We walked up and said hello and I handed him the cup. He looked down at us with a look of shock on his face, as if it was the first time in a while that someone had showed him some kindness. He then said, "Thank you... I just got this guitar; I'm really happy about it," and smiled. After chatting for a minute or two, my friend and I left and continued to look around, stopping at a few stores and eventually turned around to catch the train back to her house. On the way, we walked past the man again. He was now quietly strumming his guitar with our coffee cup in front of him, with a smile on his face. I guess what I took from this experience, was the impact that a bit of humanity can have on someone else's day, or life. Although the homeless man's sign asked for a cup of coffee, all he really wanted was someone to recognize him, to treat him like a human being, to maybe give him a smile, instead of passing him by. I think that is all anyone wants, really... to be shown some kindness.(The image above can be found here: http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/05/05/22/)
