Ringgggggggg……..the alarm clock goes off at 6:00 AM. You open your eyes and shut off the annoying sound. Lying there you say a short prayer, thanking God for another day.
You sit up on the edge of the bed, your mind going onward to the rest of your day. No thought is given to the next few things you do. The same things everyday, just routine.
After having a good breakfast and hot coffee, you sit on the edge of the bed, reaching for your socks. You slip them onto your feet without a second thought. Then, slipping those warm feet into shoes, you’re off, going about your days’ schedule. Work, school, play and then home again to prepare to do it all again tomorrow.
Now, shift the picture to another scene.
CRASH! BANG! Shouting and cursing ensues. A man sleeping on the ground at the base of a dumpster, rolls over, tossing aside the filthy, tattered blanket he’d found in the dumpster the night before. He sits up on his makeshift bed of cardboard boxes, flattened and damp with dew, acutely aware of the aches and pains all over his body. The pain in his empty stomach is difficult to ignore, and he is remembering the last food he had so many hours ago.
Finally standing, he winces with pain. His feet are covered with sores from the ill fitting shoes that have rubbed raw his sock-less feet. At this moment his greatest wish is for a pair of clean, soft socks, even more than he wishes for something to eat.
He shuffles off after stowing his "bed and blankets" behind the dumpster. Hoping that no one will take them while he is gone.
Do we think about the socks? How about all those little things that make our lives so comfortable every day? There are those that don’t have those small comforts, that can’t change the shoes that hurt their feet, that can’t walk into a warm home and take a hot bath.
Do we think about the socks? How about all those little things that make our lives so comfortable every day? There are those that don’t have those small comforts, that can’t change the shoes that hurt their feet, that can’t walk into a warm home and take a hot bath.
The man in the picture has passed away. He was known to us as "Bicycle Larry". We're fairly sure that wasn't his real name, but that is what he wanted us to call him. "Bicycle Larry" had a bicycle and rode it until his health became worse and he could only push it. He slept behind a dumpster near Little Five Points, Atlanta until he was forced to move on.
Bicycle Larry passed away on December 24, 2007. The official reason is unknown to us, but I think it was neglect. We, his fellow man, let him down.
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