Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Feeding Phillip
A couple of weeks ago I had a friend visiting from Massachusetts. It was a beautiful day, and we were enjoying lunch outside at Lucky Dills when I spotted a homeless man eating leftover french fries from a vacated table as he walked by. He spoke to no one - he simply continued on down the street to a the next garbage can where he rummaged for more discarded food. Watching him I was overcome by such strong emotions of compassion I almost could not contain them. I absolutely had to help. I approached him and asked if I could buy him lunch. He appeared quite surprised and replied, "That would be great." He told me his name was Phillip. While he sat with my unwitting accomplice, Lori, I went inside to order food. While we were waiting for it to be served we tried to make small talk. I was still so overcome by emotion that I finally excused Lori and I and left him to his lunch. It took me a few more minutes to get my emotions under control.
I experienced this same intensity of feeling only two other times in my life. One was in 1987 in Seattle when my sister and father were visiting me to attend my college graduation. We came upon a homeless woman and a baby as we were exploring the UW district. Again, I was overcome with emotion and felt absulutely certain I had to help. We drove to Safeway and bought peanut butter, bread, plastic utensils and milk for the woman.
The other time was in 2003. This was a difficult time in my own life. My husband had lost his job in 2002 with an Enron-owned company and was having difficulty obtaining a new position. To cover our bills I was working 80 hours a week on-call as an OT in home health while also beginning to teach yoga more and more. Almost everyday I found myself eating a lunch of fast food in the car on my way to my next appointment. One particular day I was parked behind Wendy's when I spotted a woman on a bicycle pulling a cart loaded up with what looked like all her earthly belongings. What really moved me was that she had her cat on a leash and had stopped in a grassy part of the parking lot to give it some food and water. I felt such tremendous compassion for her situation, I simply had to help. I barely contained my emotions as I handed her a 20-dollar bill.
Why did these three needy individuals in a sea of needy individuals move me so? Perhaps I recognized them from a past life. Or perhaps I myself was homeless in a previous life and remembered how it was to rely on the kindness of strangers. Or maybe I was simply chosen by the universe in each of these particular moments to be the one to help. Whatever the reason, I am glad I was there. http://www.livingroomyoga.biz/
I experienced this same intensity of feeling only two other times in my life. One was in 1987 in Seattle when my sister and father were visiting me to attend my college graduation. We came upon a homeless woman and a baby as we were exploring the UW district. Again, I was overcome with emotion and felt absulutely certain I had to help. We drove to Safeway and bought peanut butter, bread, plastic utensils and milk for the woman.
The other time was in 2003. This was a difficult time in my own life. My husband had lost his job in 2002 with an Enron-owned company and was having difficulty obtaining a new position. To cover our bills I was working 80 hours a week on-call as an OT in home health while also beginning to teach yoga more and more. Almost everyday I found myself eating a lunch of fast food in the car on my way to my next appointment. One particular day I was parked behind Wendy's when I spotted a woman on a bicycle pulling a cart loaded up with what looked like all her earthly belongings. What really moved me was that she had her cat on a leash and had stopped in a grassy part of the parking lot to give it some food and water. I felt such tremendous compassion for her situation, I simply had to help. I barely contained my emotions as I handed her a 20-dollar bill.
Why did these three needy individuals in a sea of needy individuals move me so? Perhaps I recognized them from a past life. Or perhaps I myself was homeless in a previous life and remembered how it was to rely on the kindness of strangers. Or maybe I was simply chosen by the universe in each of these particular moments to be the one to help. Whatever the reason, I am glad I was there. http://www.livingroomyoga.biz/
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