Gary

Deborah and me

On April 24th, Deborah and I were able to go see a live production of Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale in downtown Charlotte. If you’ve never seen Shakespeare performed on a stage right in front of you, you’re missing out. A Winter’s Tale is one of his more obscure plays, and we had no idea what was going to happen, so it was like watching a movie for the first time. The play had a few really good twists, as well, and even Deborah couldn’t figure out how the story was going to end. That makes it a great bit of storytelling, because she is the queen of figuring out how  movies and T.V. shows are going to end when we’re about halfway through them. As a bonus, we even got cupcakes at intermission, since it was William’s birthday, and all!


After the play, we walked a few blocks down from the theater to have dinner at Fuel Pizza. They have old gas pumps and rusty vintage advertising signs for tires, oil, and gas hanging all over the walls and dangling from the rafters. The pizza is pretty tasty, too. Some of the pizzas have names like Extreme Fuel, Whole Engine, or Brooklyn Bridge.

Entrance to the theater

One of the walls of the restaurant opened up into a huge window that was probably 15 feet long and ran from the ceiling down to table level. Since they had it open, we decided to sit there so we could watch the people walking by on the sidewalk. Even though it was almost eleven o’clock at night, there were tons of people walking around. Downtown Charlotte is a hopping place on a Saturday night!

Fuel Pizza, Charlotte, NC

While we were waiting for our pizza to finish cooking, a man stopped outside the window and asked if a pizza box that had been left on one of the tables had anything left in it. I opened it up and looked, but it only had a few pieces of crust in it. He said, “Thank you.”, and walked off. After he was out of sight, Deborah asked me to see if I could catch him to ask him if he wanted to eat with us. We had ordered one of the larger pizzas with the plan of taking the leftovers home for lunch Sunday afternoon, so we would have more than enough for three people.

When I went outside, he was still right outside the door to the restaurant, so I got his attention and asked him if he was hungry, and if he’d like to join us to eat. He said he was hungry, and asked me, “Can you tell them I’m with you, so they won’t kick me out?” I told him that was no problem. He introduced himself as Gary, and came to join us at our table. While I went back up to the counter to buy him a drink, Gary started telling Deborah why he was living on the street and what he tried to do for money. He had been trying to get work, but said it was hard, and that he refused to steal things to get by. He said other people on the street would take everything you had from you if you weren’t careful with your belongings. Just a few days before, someone had stolen his art pack, which had all of his art supplies in it. He said he was a portrait artist, and that was his “hustle”, what he did to make money when he couldn’t find regular work. While Gary talked, he wrote a lot of what he was saying on a napkin with a pen, like he was doing a presentation of his life, situation, and his beliefs. You see, Gary is a Christian, and he trusts God to take care of him every day. THAT’S why he refuses to steal to get by. He said the hardest thing about living on the streets is that the people who don’t completely ignore you treat you like you’re a piece of trash. Instead of helping a little bit, they say intelligent things like, “Why don’t you just get a job?”, like the job fairy is gonna come over, wave her magic wand, and instantaneously fix everything.

The week before we had gone to the theater, it was still pretty cold here in Charlotte, and it had rained a lot, especially on Thursday and Friday nights. Gary said the best way to stay out of the weather is to ride the bus, but unless you have a bus pass, you have to pay for every transfer individually. With a pass, you can stay warm on the bus all day by just riding around the city. Sadly, he hadn’t had the money to get a pass, so he hadn’t been able to use that plan for the last few cold, rainy days. After we were all done eating, I tried to get some cash out of the ATM that was in the restaurant so Gary could buy him a bus pass the next day. But it was broken. We searched on our phones, and found an outside ATM for our bank that was only about a block away. I had planned on just walking over there myself, getting the money, and bringing it back, but my loving wife, who tends to think more clearly than me in many situations, wasn’t too keen on that idea. So we decided to all walk over there together.

On the way to the ATM, Gary pointed out several areas that were the safest places to sleep. Most of them were ideal because there were 24 hour security guards right across the street, so you could sleep without worrying about anyone jacking with your stuff or hurting you. One was at the library across the street from a parking garage. Another was right across from a big bank. As we walked by a small corner park with several trees and nice benches, he told us he likes to sit there during the day. I was impressed with how candid Gary was about how he lived, without making any excuses. More than once he thanked us for not giving him pity. He said he doesn’t want people to feel sorry for him, but some help instead of insult is definitely welcome.

By the time we made it to the ATM, he had really opened up, and even started joking about old movies he liked. He thanked us for just talking to him and spending some time with him. During our conversations, he had mentioned that he had been thinking about tall bridges lately. When Deborah asked him why, he kind of ducked his head and said, “Well, you know…” He said it was hard to keep hope when everything was so hard. He just wanted to be able to get a job and find a cheap place to live. Before we parted ways, Deborah and I both prayed with him for God to protect him and keep him safe, and for him to have favor with potential employers so he could get a job. I also told him not to give up hope and that even though everything looks dark and hard right now, he can make it through this. When I gave him the cash, he hugged me and thanked me. Then when he put it in his pocket, he said jokingly, “You never count money someone just gave you in front of them.” As we parted ways, he told us to look for him if we’re back down there. I told him, “You better not still be down here the next time we’re down here. Not because I don’t want to see you again, but because I don’t want you to still be out here.” He thanked both of us again and walked off down the street.

While Deborah and I have helped people who are having hard times like Gary both before and since we met him, our experience with him was unique. This is the longest time we’ve been able to spend with anyone we’ve helped out. It felt like we got to know him a little bit, and I feel fortunate for having been able to do that. I’m sure Gary isn’t unique in how he feels and in what he thinks about living on the street and how people look at him and treat him. He doesn’t want to be treated as trash, a bum, or “homeless”. He just wants to be seen at and treated as a person. Simply because he is. His situation and circumstance doesn’t change who or what he is any more than your situation changes who or what you are. Just like you and me, Gary was created in the image of God, and God has called him to a specific purpose for this particular time in the history of the planet. We would all do well to remember that. So do me a favor today. Remember Gary. And if you have a few minutes, say a prayer for him. Because I know I do, and I want him to fulfill that specific purpose God planned for him before He laid the foundation of the world.

Kickoff, A.K.A., Let's Get This Thing Rolling!

     Hi there, Faithful Reader! Or at least, for the moment, Testing-Out-This-New-Blog Reader! Let me introduce myself. As you've already ascertained, I'm that guy, Aaron. But what exactly does that mean, and what kind of stuff can you expect to read about here in this blog? I'm one of those guys who believes Common Sense isn't common at all. Normal doesn't really have a hard and fast definition, either. I mean, who would be properly qualified to determine what "normal" is, anyway? I have no idea. I also have no set parameters for what I'll be writing about in this space in the future. Hence that "random musings" bit.

     I tend to catch myself wondering about things from time to time. Things like, "Who actually uses all of these Self Storage locations, and what kind of stuff is in there?" "Why is everything so disposable these days?" "Is that conversation really so earth-shatteringly important that this guy has to text while he's cruising down the interstate?" "Why does 'New & Improved' often seem to mean 'Different & Slightly Inferior?" (You remember New Coke, don't you?) You know, just random stuff like that. I also tend to shake my head as I wonder, "Did I actually just see that?!" on a fairly regular basis. One thing is certain, people will never cease to surprise you with what they say and do. Sometimes it kind of surprises me that we have made it as long as we have as a population in general. Yet here we are! At least people keep this life interesting!

     Basically, I'm pretty much a nerd at heart. I like researching the things that interest me to the point of near obsession. Things like history, rocket science, watches, geography, vintage razors (yes, I'm one of THOSE guys...!), travel, fishing, RVing, quantum physics, and TONS of other subjects.

     Maybe once I get a bit of a following, I can even take topic suggestions. "Hey, Aaron, what do you think about _______?" And then I can write about it and the three of us (You, that one other reader, and myself!...) may expand our knowledge boundaries about something new that we haven't REALLY stopped to think about before. I think I'll stick around for a while and see where this leads...