On my morning hike down in the canyon this morning, I saw a familiar homeless man headed toward me –– carrying a broken green lawn chair, and a bag of something seemingly-precious…
I’ve seen him before. He never makes eye-contact with me, but I send him love as I pass, anyway…
But right BEHIND him, standing in the middle of the trail 50 feet ahead, was a man in a blue jogging suit who’d zipped past me a minute before — now staring straight at me, and giving me the “thumbs-up” sign (with a VERY quizzical look on his face)….
I cocked my head… squinched up my face in confusion… as he kept curiously lifting his thumb to the sky….
That’s when it hit me: He was worried about me being alone on the trail with the (harmless) homeless man… So I beamed a smile, and gave him a big “A-O-Tay” thumbs-up in return.
But… it was the strangest feeling: Within a 2-second stretch –– my heart cracked open from this stranger’s concern and kindness… AND was also instantly saddened too, as it was SO obvious that this homeless man’s energy was gentle, heavy and broken… and the jogger was obviously (and innocently) perceiving him in a less-than-positive light.
(And personally, I believe our thoughts are streams of energy — either helping to lift someone up, or helping to break someone down…)
The last thing I needed was protection. In fact, the person needing the most TLC was the man with the broken lawn chair.
And that made me think: Why haven’t I stopped to chat with Lawn-Chair-Man? — Who knows…
Perhaps he has a red-headed hug in his near future? (And I’ll finally get to know what he carries around in that sacred bag of his…?)
Yup… That jogger may need to protect HIM… from ME soon!!!!
