I was going to go to a panel, but I wanted to write about this instead

[annathepiper]

I just bought lunch for a homeless guy, and I feel weird about that.

I was heading into the Denny's across the street from the hotel, wanting to get some quick lunch before doing more convention things. This man walked up to me as I was crossing the little parking lot and asked if I had any spare change. Usually when this happens I say some variation of "not today, sorry", and go about my way. Today, instead, I said, "I'm not going to give you any money, but I'll buy you a meal."

The man came gratefully into the restaurant with me, and as we sat down, I struck up a conversation with him. I think he was as grateful for the conversation as he was for the food, really.

His name was Lee, and he was from Alabama. He didn't obviously drawl, but once he said where he was from, yeah, I could hear the South in his voice. He heard "East Coast" in mine, and perked up considerably when I told him I was originally from Kentucky. His hair was gray, his clothing worn but not dirty, his face careworn. He had a hat.

He told me he'd originally come up to the Pacific Northwest because of the military, and that he'd served in Vietnam; that he was a musician, and occasionally played blues but that the band he'd last been in had fallen apart thanks to having $30,000 worth of equipment stolen; that he'd done freelanace shareware work in the computer industry, and used to work with assembly language; that the house he'd once shared with his wife was in probate, and he could no longer occupy it; and that he'd recently lost his wife to ovarian cancer, and that he felt guilty over not being able to get her the care she needed because of the erratic money a musician brings in. (And let's not even talk about trying to get health insurance in a situation like this.)

I told him that I was attending the science fiction convention in the hotel across the street, which gave us an opportunity to talk about movies and books and what goes on at a science fiction convention. He asked who was attending the convention, and I told him Norwescon wasn't quite big enough to get the truly famous people--Isaac Asimov being the name he was able to think of offhand. He also recognized the name of Arthur C. Clarke and hadn't realized he'd died just this very week. I told him that I'd spent most of the morning getting books signed by five different authors, that I was very fond of naominovik's work and a little bit about it, and that the big event of the evening would be the Masquerade. He liked seeing the various people in costumes wandering around outside.

And we talked about music, once I told him I also was a guitar player. We were in solid agreement that music is a survival mechanism--I told him about my recent breast cancer experiences and how I'd urged friends to come over to my house and play music with me, and that really, I just enjoyed being able to play music with others every so often. I told him about my little Ragamuffin and he even recognized the name of Harmony as a guitar maker, and said that he'd had one of their guitars before but that he plays electrics now.

Lee kept thanking me over and over for buying him the food, and that this would be the high point of his week. I told him he was welcome, and that I felt that if I were fortunate enough to be able to attend a science fiction convention, I could buy a meal for someone and that I was glad to do something for a fellow person.

I hope that his forthcoming week will be better, and that, as he hoped to me, he'd be able to go to his pal in Federal Way and get some work from him.

Keep Lee of Alabama in your thoughts, folks. This post is for him.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

:)

I think the part about talking to him some is almost more valuable than the actual food; so many people treat homeless people like dirt or invisible.

Thank you for telling us about him!

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

I agree. I also think that lots of the time, buying food for the person isn't going to help them in the big scheme of things (give a man a fish, blah blah blah), but actually sitting down and spending time with someone, that in and of itself is really valuable. Humans are humans and everybody is valuable.

Hopefully he'll be able to find some work soon! He sounds like he'd be pretty well-qualified for lots of jobs. (Heh, you should start a band with him!)

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

(By "you" I mean Anna, I don't know if you (marzipan_pig) actually play music. :-) )

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

I don't know (re: food), having the food bank to go to when I needed it helped me a lot in a larger scheme of things, helped me not have to worry about food day-to-day while I was getting other things in my life under more control.

[ceallaighgirl.livejournal.com]

That's good then. My statement was of a more general nature. (I'm certainly no stranger to buying meals for random people on the street, because I won't hand out money.)

[annathepiper]

Thank you for reading it!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

You're such a wonderful person.

::HUGS::

Thanks so much for sharing that.

Keeping lots of good thoughts for Lee and sending the hope he can get full time work soon.

[annathepiper]

Aw, thank you. *hugs*

Though I'm kinda thinking that a man who can humble himself enough to ask a stranger for help and then open up to her about how he is proud of having gone eight years without any form of drugs except for alcohol, and share what goals he's got for trying to retake control of his life, tops me out in the wonderful department.

I'll be thinking about him for some time and hoping that his life takes a turn for the better.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Well done, you.

[annathepiper]

Thanks. *^_^*;; I feel a little weird about it still, but weird in a good way, and I'm glad I did it. It was a perfectly lovely conversation and I was happy to experience it. It wasn't the way I would have expected to strike up a conversation with a stranger at a convention... but it was a good one nonetheless.

I hope he'll be okay.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

When we were living in San Francisco, I struck up an acquaintance with a homeless guy named Lynn who was often at a street corner between my work and the train station. He was a Vietnam vet in his late fifties, was always polite and never smelled like booze, and I stuck a hundred dollars in his cup the day or so before Christmas. After the holiday he stopped me to say thank you, and we started talking after that. He told me a great story about--I forget what band was playing at one of the south bay parks, but at a concert he'd been to they'd paused during one of the sets and said, "There's this guy in the audience who's been asking and asking if we'd let him come up on stage and play, and we got tired of saying no, so we're gonna let him come up and join us for a while." And Eric Clapton came up from the crowd and played the rest of the set with them. :) He had a lot of good stories, was really into blues music, and was a really decent guy. I worry about him, but I don't have any idea how to check up on him. That section of SF has, I gather, been gentrified, so I don't think I'd find him if I went back.

So I know where you're coming from, anyway.

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Very good.

[annathepiper]

Thanks. :)

[raise-a-jar.livejournal.com]

Good on ya! There should be more people like you in this world.

[annathepiper]

I think there are... just that most of us don't get motivated to do something nearly as often as we should. I'm not entirely sure what hit me at that particular moment.

Thanks, nevertheless. :)

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I've done this a couple of times, too. Somewhere I still have a picture one guy in Chicago gave me after I got him dinner (he used to try to sell people photocopies of drawings he'd made rather than just beg). I agree it feels a little strange, but really something I should do more often.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Keep Lee of Alabama in your thoughts, folks. This post is for him.

..and for the other 100,000 US veterans living homeless as well.

Thank you.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i'll keep lee, musician from alabama, in my thoughts.

go you for taking the time to see and help your fellow person.

[caligogreywings.livejournal.com]

Thanks for doing what you did. Every little bit of good energy sent out will hopefully lift us all out of negative holes we dig ourselves into.

You probably touched his life in a very good way.

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

You have courage I'm ashamed never to have displayed.

[grian-ruadh.livejournal.com]

Anna, you're a credit to the human race (which needs all the credit it can get). Thank you for being you. Love ya, babe.

[annathepiper]

Aw. Thank you. *^_^*;;

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

I used to hang out with the Big Issue sellers and buskers in Edinburgh. They had a lot of cool stories.

It's been a while since I bought food for a total stranger, mostly because I don't go into town enough, but I'll try and remember next time I see someone that needs feeding.

[damara.livejournal.com]

Hey, that was really nice of you.

And Happy Easter.

[annathepiper]

Thank you. You too. :)

[callibr8]

Awesome, and what a touching story. I hope things get better for Lee.

[annathepiper]

Thank you. So do I.