Street Wise.

On my walk home today, I decided to stop on Maple and Dearborn in order to get an interview from a Streetwise vendor for my profile piece due next week. I approached him as he was leaving, introduced myself and he kindly obliged to sit and talk with me on the curb. Don Smith is "The Mayor of Dearborn." He is there 4 days a week selling papers, to ensure he stays clean and right. After speaking with this man who hsas gone through so much in his life, I felt selfish. I felt wrong for feeling sad or lonely or mad at people or school. I am so lucky to be where I am, have the friends that I have, and have my family. I am so happy that I can go home to a place everyday and write on my new MacAir or eat at a nice restaurant. I never buy Streetwise or even acknowledge the sellers sometimes. Mostly I smile and keep walking with my IPOD in my ears playing me sad songs that make me think and evaluate my life as I traverse the concrete jungle. After speaking with this man, who was the most sincere and honest person I have spoken to in a long time, I realized that I am a selfish person for feeling sad about things and for pretending that the worse thing in the world is when someone doesn't call back, etc. In this world, people come and go. They leave, but the memories of them linger. I don't like fretting over things because in the larger picture, there are a ton of people in this world. The smallest things need to stop bringing me down, because it could be worse. Don told me that when people bring you down or cause you to feel an ounce of pain, feel sorry for them, and try to flip it on them so they realize they are at fault. Make them become better people instead of fueling the fire. He said "people look at me and see holes in my pants and assume things." But like I always say, "I may be holey, but God wants us all to be holy." :) That is the best thing I have heard today. I think that people are multi-dimentional and it is hard to find that one person in life that makes your heart go boom. When it happens you know. Until then, I guess we should just keep living strong, and appreciate one another. So everytime you see someone on the street, don't judge. Don't smirk or ignore. Make their day and stop and talk, because love spreads more so than hate and sadness. Spread love to yourself and to everyone around you....our days would be so much more enjoyable.


peace, love, and lullabies
lora.