i am blessed

i met a homeless guy monday. his name was jason. he was waiting for a taxi to take him to a hotel for the night; he'd scraped together $40, and hoped it would get him a room, so he could get a decent night's sleep and a shower.

he looked like he was about 50. he looked haggard, and exhuasted, and his eyes had lost hope. he looked like he'd been through alot. but after we got to talking, i found out he was only 29.

29. one year older than me. but such different lives. me -- a warm, loving family that i looked forward to going back home to. him -- no home, no warmth, no love; no one waiting for him.

how awful . how truly awful. here, i had been stressing about the water in the basement, and school work and my job. and here was a man who truly had nothing.

i realized, on my silent ride home, just how lucky i was. i realized, just how flimsy our grasp on security can be. people don't just wake up homeless one day. but they cannot always control the events that cause them to end up there.

not every homeless person is a drunken bum, asking for handouts. it could be the man who lost his job due to layoffs and couldn't pay the mortgage. or the family who lost their home because of medical bills for a sick child. they may not have family or friends close enough to help them out -- or may be too ashamed to ask for help.

in fact, may of us could be about two mortgage payments away from homelessness. i'm getting laid of myself in december, and while i know we'll be able to get by, its still a sobering thought. i never thought it would happen; getting laid off. i thought if i was a good worker that i'd never have to worry about it.

and i've been looking for work, and still haven't found anything; hopefully by december, i will have. but the point is, that if i wasn't married, and didn't have my family close by, there'd be a pretty big chance that if i didn't find a job, i'd be on the street too. because i dont' see how i'd make it on my own.

so tonight, i'm feeling very grateful for what i have, and very blessed. when i get home, i'm going to hold my family tight and tell them i love them.