Questions

I was out yesterday, buying clothes for easter.

I walked out of a store and saw an elderly black man outside the door. The man was paralyzed and appeared to be in a very poor state of health. He was sitting in a sorry-looking electric wheelchair, the rubber was peeling away from the wheels, the metal was dirty and corroded. From one of the handles, the man had hung a plastic bag, full of what appeared to be trinkets, aluminum of some sort. He himself was wearing a torn denim jacket, stained and faded, his pants were also torn, and came down only to his shins. One of his hands, thin and atrophied from lack of use, sat on a crooked steering stick. The other hung loosely from the other side of the chair. His feet were placed awkwardly on the footrests, both turned inwardly. He wore tennis shoes, both of which had but partial soles.

As I passed this man, he slowly looked up at me through the rain, through sad grey eyes from under his black toboggan. His mouth hung open, exposing large gaps between his yellow, crooked teeth. He blinked as the rain hit his face, but stayed intent on following my gaze as I walked away.

And when I got to my car, I sat there for a while. I thought about that poor man, and what a struggle it must be for him, just to live. He obviously didn't have the resources to accomodate his disability, he most likely never will. And, in a futile attempt to empathize with this man, I stepped out of my car, with my able legs, and my adequate clothes, and I stood in the rain. I stayed in the rain for that man. I stayed in the rain for this man, if you can call me that.

God works in mysterious ways.