One Dollar

As usual, on Monday mornings, I shop at Walmart for the week's groceries.  And each time I shop, there is always without fail a homeless person or panhandler or whatever you want to call them standing on the corner with their sign.  Today was no exception.  As I drove into the parking lot, I said to myself, "This is the day I will give this homeless man some food.  There's a McDonald's inside the store.  I will buy this guy breakfast and hand it to him on my way out."  Each and every week, I normally ignore these people.  I totally 100% ignore them.  I have never given them anything from my hand.

I've been told not to give these people money because they'll spend it on drugs or alcohol or cigarettes.  These people don't actually "improve" their circumstances by the money you give them because they have an addiction which is why they are even on the streets in the first place; right?  If they really wanted to turn their life around, there are resources available for them to do so.  And I actually tell these things to my kids, too.  Don't give money to homeless people.  It does them no good and it gets spent on their addictive lifestyle.

So I shopped and checked out and headed to McDonald's.  Long line.  I am not going to wait in this line.  I'm not going to do it!  But I promised myself I would buy this guy a meal.  I told myself that today was the day!  But now it's the lunch menu and I don't know what this guy will want for lunch!  Too much pressure!  Should I get a Big Mac or a Quarter-Pounder?  Will he just throw it away because there's onions on it? 

I'm having this debate in my mind.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  What should I do?

So I leave.  I load my groceries in my van and head toward the exit.  There he is!  He's there.  His sign reads:  "Hungry.  Will work for food.  Anything helps."  I reach into my wallet and pull out a dollar.  A dollar!  One whole dollar!  As I approach him he flips his sign over that reads, "Thank a vet."

I smile really wide, hand him the dollar.  He says, "God Bless You!  Thank you!"  His teeth are rotten and he smells like cigarette smoke.  Then he says, "And thank you for your service."  He noticed the veteran license plates on my van.  He was thanking me!  He was telling me Thank You and God Bless.

Well, my eyes filled with tears and I had to blink them away so I could drive!  I have everything.  We have everything.  And this kind homeless man was blessing me and thanking me for Jason's service in the Army.

I don't know this man.  But he made my day.  I don't know and would never be able to verify if this guy is a vet.  Maybe he's a liar, a scam-artist, a convicted felon.  But my heart says otherwise.  My heart went out to him, standing in the cold.  Even if he uses my dollar to buy more alcohol or cigarettes, it doesn't matter to me.  It's not my dollar anymore.  It's his.  And if he is a veteran, well, God bless him! 

And God bless all of our veterans today.  I have such righteous pride in our military and such righteous pride for our country.