I saw this old man hobbling down E. Main Street heading towards Publix. He had his thumb out trying to hitch a ride looking at the cars while they were stopped at a traffic light. When no one offered he continued hobbling along. After crossing a business entrance, he stopped again to lean on the guard rail and stick his thumb out for a ride.
“Oh no. I hope he doesn’t look at me. He probably smells. He is probably stinken drunk. He’s gonna stink up my truck if I give him a ride. He’s going to ask for money for a ‘bus ticket’ or ‘hotel’.”
Ashamedly admitting, these were the thoughts going through my head.
As I passed, I saw his face. I decided that I would turn around and give him a ride to wherever he was wanting to go. I offered a ride. He accepted.
He just got out of jail. He was living with his girlfriend. Told me, “Sometimes you have to put a woman in their place.” I don’t know what that meant, but I jokingly said, “Sometimes we all need to be put in our place.” And his place was just leaving jail. I didn’t want to engage in a conversation about what he did to land in jail. I just wanted to know where he wanted me to take him.
“There’s a bridge near Clifton Beach, the poor man’s beach, that I am going to go sleep under tonight. You can drop me off there.” I said, “OK. Let me know how to get there.”
I was trying to dig in a little deeper with him about himself along the way. Has been sober for 7 days, mostly while in jail. I encouraged him to continue his sobriety. Shared my brother Steve’s story of sobriety to encourage him.
I asked him if there was anything I could do for him. I offered him some money, food, anything and he declined it all. He was truly just trying to get a ride to that bridge to crawl under and sleep for the night. He added, “I hope there aren’t any snakes. But if there are, I guess I’ll have to fight with them.” It’s not the first time he has done this.
So I got him to the bridge. As I spoke with him, his facial features reminded me of my father. He looked like he had a lot of stories to tell.
I don’t know the trouble he gets into. I don’t know his life stories. I just know it was hard to convince myself to help. Some days, its just a little help that people need.