Life’s Street Corners
Doesn’t it make you feel good to see yourself getting up, showing up, and taking another step closer to making your dreams come true on day 23 of 2007? Have you ever found yourself wondering why one too many great people are still ending up homeless in a fertile land where there’s enough milk and honey to fill every hand that’s empty? It happened to me. During my season of sunny-side-down days, I watched my weight plummet from over 200 pounds to about 165 pounds. I understood most of the reasons why my brook had run dry so quickly. I also accepted full responsibility for my decision to pursue my dream. But what I had a hard time accepting was why so many of the people I knew, or helped financially, had decided to turn a blind eye to my financial demise.
But somebody I didn’t know help me to realize why my decision to step out on faith and pursue my big dream had offended the peers I befriended who now resented me. Apparently, I had broken some unwritten, unspoken code of conduct my co-wokers lived by to justify their fears and the myriad of reasons why they had settled for less. When my company car had broken down, I reluctantly drove my 5 series BMW to work to avoid being late for a meeting. Why did I do that? Every domino I had so meticulously lined up like ducks in a row suddenly started falling.
I also made the mistake of asking a co-worker to drive me home from work one day after putting my company car in the repair shop. Yet another fatal mistake that severely hindered my ability to win friends. The response was, “****, your home has more square footage than mine!!” As expected, the dominoes kept falling. Shortly thereafter, I discovered that my co-worker had started remoldeling the family home. By now, the collateral damage for daring to paint outside the box of politically acceptable behavior while dancing to the beat of a different drum had sealed my fate. Overhearing a manager telling the other managers, “As long as I’m here, Solomon will never get another raise,” became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Sounds crazy but it happened and it’s still happening to many of you today.
Before sacrificing my home in 1990 to pursue my dreams, I began to notice the same group of men, who were standing on the street corners when I left in the morning, were still standing on the same street corner when I arrived back home from work later that evening. Curiousity compelled me to ask them why they didn’t have some place else to go. The stories they shared inspired me to pen today’s entry. That’s why I have so much love and respect for the angels who manage Hosea Feed The Hungry & Homeless in Atlanta, Georgia. I truly enjoyed working with so many of the great people I met who assisted Ms. Elisabeth and Mr. Afemo Omilami as they did the “eternal work” of meeting the unmet needs of the relocated and displaced Katrina survivors. Until we meet again, may the peace of God be with each of you.
LIFE’S STREET CORNERS
See all those men standing on that street corner wishin they had some place else to go? Some are panhandling for money or looking for honest work, while the rest are just looking for an honest way to survive. As a truck passes by, someone shouts, “I’ll pour cement, paint your house, or wash the car you drive!” Long after we retire for the evening, some of those same men will still be standing on that street corner with no place else to go.
As a truck pulls up, the driver honks the horn and asks the men if they want to earn some tax-free dough. Feet start flying, moving as fast as they can just for the chance to earn an honest day’s pay. Happy are the chosen ones while the rest must be persistent enough to try again another day. Without a high school diploma or college degree to tack on the wall, many of these great men will have no choice but to go back to some street corner wishing for some place else to go.
Can it be that it’s not always by choice that all those great men are standing on that crowded street corner with no place else to go? During the last recession, many men lost good paying jobs, their homes, and found it difficult to make ends meet. Thanks to their false beliefs about the poor, banks refused to extend business loans to the homeless men lining up on that street. Following a divorce from man’s most valuable resource, tough times can force any of us to live on the street corner with no place to else to go.
My son, get your education since Ignorance and Illiteracy won’t help you make the hard times go away fast enough. If you lose your freedom to choose, the full price Success demands up front today will be one expense Poverty will make you pay tomorrow. May common sense inspire you to always do the best you can in the classroom of your choosing to avoid much sorrow. As you keep climbing higher and higher still, I pray the wisdom you acquire will keep you off life’s street corners, wishing you had some place else to go.
©Copyright 1990-2007 by Roderick O. Solomon. All Rights Reserved.
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