Pulling Strings

This morning, while on my way to Walgreen's to get some Cold Medicine, i was stopped at an intersection, somewhat expectedly, by a red light. As i was sitting in my car listening to Lil' Wayne, a homeless man gazed at me, nodded, and simply went back to holding his sign without saying a word... mind you, my windows were already down. His sign said something along the lines of him being a veteran and contained the specific years during which he served (92'-96'). I sat for a second, took three dollars out of my pocket, and gestured for him to come get it. He took it from me thankfully and said, "Thank you sir, you have a nice day." As he began to return to his post on the curb, i asked him what his name was. Quickly he turned around and said, "Kenny. I served in the...(i can't recall which number he claimed) airborne". Still unsure whether i had given money to a respectable vet or a fraudulent drunk or any of the other million identities in between he could have possessed, i wished him a nice day and upon that walked back to the median and sat down. The light turned green shortly thereafter and i continued on my way to Walgreen's. While driving back past him on the way back to school, he was scarfing down a plate of food he had just purchased from somewhere. For reasons i can not describe, my eyes began to well up, as they are now while i write. I had I had a similar experience to this last year in OB, but i think my heart was in a different place this time. It caught me off guard, but more than that, it made me realize that regardless of this guys true identity, he is a hungry homeless man who just wanted some food. I don't know this guys life story, but i sure wish i did. It made me wonder why so few people care to help those who really need it. Sure, not every person you try to help will recover or get off the streets, but it is our job and our calling to help those in need. Just to clarify, i am calling myself out, too. Giving three dollars of my spare change to some guy is a good start to build a relationship, but as soon as i drove off, bought some stuff, went back to the comfort of my dorm, and then never thought twice about Kenny again, as will likely happen after i am done writing this... it is not enough. I could not avoid seeing him when i stopped. I did not go out of my way to love someone i would have otherwise never even known existed, or cared about it for that matter, My point is that we, as humans, have had a serious break down somewhere along the lines of prioritizing what matters most. I think that marginalized people, in our own country and others, should be much higher up on the TO DO, or in this case, TO HELP list, than all of our own preoccupations we like to call more important than all else.