Blessings

God blesses us in miraculous ways.
Just when we're down and out sometimes unknown angels bring new radiance to our lives.
I went to a homelessness awareness rally with a depressed state of mind.
Suddenly a man rushed up to me and complimented me on my articles.
Then, the next morning a very sincere Christian blessed me.
Both prefer anonymity but they have been blessings to me.
God was in concert with their benevolence.
I now have a bright future thanks to these two fine altruistic Christians.
Here's hoping they and their families enjoy the blessings the holidays bring.
We should all praise God when he sends his immerceries into our lives.
Praise God for his grace!!
Praise God for his loving kindness!!
And praise those gentlemen who've helped me regain my self-worth.
Now it's up to me to pass it on to someone else who needs a good Samaritan.

Downsizing

Whoever came up with the term downsizing sure was a stickler for government gobbledegook.
I know I misspelled that word atrociously but I'm depressed because some friends in the journalism realm got downsized Thursday.
I went to write an article and asked where Kent Marts was. His office door was closed and I was told he was in a meeting.
D-Day struck the Daily Record.
One of the reporters told me there would be several seats available at computers by the end of the day.
Sure enough after I finished my article one of the photographers had departed and the reporter was cleaning out his desk.
The merger of the newspapers in Northwest Arkansas promulgated the axe on some very hard-working journalists.
I just hope my friend Nate Allen survived, but I'm afraid he may have lost his position at the Northwest Arkansas Times because there weren't any articles by him in the paper this morning.
He did so much for me and he was so proud I got the job as an usher at football games.
But I haven't heard from him lately and that makes me leery.
It's a scary economy we're dealing with. Computers and the Internet have downsized newspapers.
I don't know if I'll be writing anymore because they may have trimmed their budgets.
It's just a time for thanking the Lord we even have a job.

sadness

Today is a day of gloom and doom.

I just wrote an article about Cobblestone at the Daily Record, but there's going to be some downsizing here and I feel out of place again.

Kent Marts will be the editor of the weeklies and no longer affiliated with the Daily Record, so he's not in a very friendly mood.

I'm glad I wrote the article because I don't know my status in the future.

Hope all is well with everyone at Cobblestone Project.

Sorry I didn't mention more names but I felt rushed to write it.

I forgot to mention the genesis of the Green Room and its significance but maybe someday I'll have a better window of opportunity.

Ya'll are great people and deserving of commendation.

See ya in the movies!!

cobblestone

"Tripping down the cobblestones, feeling groovy."

That was a little ditty from Simon and Garfunkel.

Everyone was in a groovy mood Sunday strategizing upcoming projects.

I'm just awaiting authorization from Kent Marts about articles he desires for publication.

Everyone involved in Cobblestone Project seems to be on the same wavelength.

God blessed all of us with a special talent and we must fully utilize our abilities to best aid our fellow man.

I hope we can eradicate pockets of poverty through Laundry Love, Shear Kindness, Clothing Drive, Help Portrait and all other altruistic endeavors.

Just showing you care makes a difference in the otherwise lonely lives of the homeless.

Dare to risk. Dare to dream. Dare to make a difference.

Some of us were blessed when the Dream Team met at the Greek Theater and spread their love and caring spirit onto the lawn at Old Main.

God works through his chosen people to aid those less fortunate.

Keep on sharing and caring with your God given talent.

Togetherness

Together we can make a change.

Alone we're just one single candle in the wind.

When I was a little boy and my mother threw a birthday party for me and I got to invite some friends, that made me feel like I was more important than I really was. But for that wonderful day I felt important.

Today I don't celebrate birthdays, but someone invited me over to his house to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family.

Now I feel like I used to when I celebrated birthdays.

Jon Woodward, executive director of Seven Hills Shelter, commented that the difference between being homeless and having a stable existence was the loss of a support network.

A few years ago when I was struggling with my meaning in life, I went to Brahm's on Thanksgiving and a stranger gave me $20 to eat on.

Then, three years ago another man offered to make a reservation at a restaurant and gave me $20 to eat on.

Two years ago one of the ministers at the United Methodist Church in Bentonville invited me to his house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's incarcerated.

Now hopefully a support network is in place and stability will be my watchword.

We all need someone to lean on, or care about us, or share in celebrating holidays. That provides a support bonding of we are family.

I remember when our family traveled to Illinois to spend Thanksgiving with my mother's parents. My father read Abraham Lincoln's speech proclaiming Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Then we all were asked to say what we thankful for.

I don't remember what we all responded, but now I know what I'm thankful for...friendship amongst my fellow houseless and the bonds of new friends who've helped me overcome my former depression around the holidays.

I gave eulogies at both of my parents' funerals. I remember the Christmas after my mother's climbing the stairway to heaven.

My father was depressed and missed my mother. He ended up in the hospital and we never really celebrated Christmas.

He died a few months later and my sister theorized he died of a broken heart.

In fact one of the nurses in the ICU said she heard him talking to my mother.

He wanted to join her.

So, just by helping the lonely out of their aloneness can make a difference.

Togetherness bonds one with all.

WhoamI?

"Very few people know who I am, and I am not one of them." -- Salvador Dali
Indeed we all are constantly searching for our identity.
And everyone looks at each other diagnosing what we really feel about each other.
Once I was a renowned sports writer and sports editor who thought the whole world revolved about wins and losses and how you play the game.
Later I played the persona of Santa Claus at Wal-Mart Christmas shop.
One of my most treasured moments occurred when a cute little girl asked me, "Santa, what are you doing here?"
I quickly quipped, "I have to make money to buy all of the presents for all of the children around the world. What do you want for Christmas, sweetie?"
Just as rapidly she remarked, "No, you don't. You can just use magic!"
Then I meekly retorted, "Well, I have to buy gifts for Mrs. Claus."
Art Linkletter once hosted a television show entitled, "Kids Say the Darndest Things."
Yes, kids believe in the magic of giving.
Even Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?"
We all wear different personas in different milieu. When we go to worship God on Sundays we're all in the Christian spirit of joyous celebration and repentance.
But what do we do the rest of the week?
For those of us campers we just try to survive the vicissitudes of life.
We battle the elements and the critters and just seek a peaceful night's sleep, hopefully snuggly wrapped up in our sleeping bags.
What a wonderful world God created for us!
As I peer down the hilltop I'm amazed at the beauty of God's natural gifts to us.
I hope someday I'll really know who I am and why I'm currently homeless.
Right now I believe God is using me and my writing talents to provide awareness of the homeless people who are no different than anyone else. We're just a little less fortunate.
But we breath the same air and feel the same way as everyone else, no matter their status in life.
We were all created equally. It just seems that some are a little more equal than others.
So who am I?
I am not one who really knows for sure.
But I strive to treat everyone with generosity and kindness.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
And we'll all have a merry Christmas.

sharing

I'm a sad man.
My heart bleeds.
Originally I planned to write about the haves and the have nots.
If you take away the s you have have and have not.
If you go into ot and take away the ot you have a haven for the have nots.
That's me.
I have a haven of safety with a tent and some trustworthy camping compadres.
Alas, today at Seven Hills a red-headed lady sought a tent.
Someone told her to go to CEO and receive a voucher for a tent at Mountain Man Pawn.
But she interjected, "Is this a military type tent?"
I told her to go to Life Source on Sunday night and receive a much better tent.
She said thanks for the info.
Then she proceeded to tell me where she's sleeping (underneath a tree).
My heart said help this lady out.
But my camping compadre told me earlier not to bring any strangers to our camp site.
So, what do I do now?
Suffer a guilty conscience because I could help her out.
Alas, I hope God is looking out for her tonight.

frustration

Sometimes tempers flare when frustration boils over into overreaction.
After a near perfect weekend and the beginnings of a productive and enthralling week, I witnessed two individuals who let their tempers flare at Seven Hills this afternoon.
While mulling over the course of events which seemed to be progressive for me and looking ahead to how to better myself in the future, I saw two frustrated homeless guys get into a fight while we were being served hot dogs.
Obviously they were both enraged over not being able to find employment and vented their frustrations with some ill-advised scuffling.
Someone told me one of the guys kept jumping in line hither and yon and the other proceeded to bad mouth him. Eventually they jumped at each other.
One was evicted and the other left in a huff.
Some indigents develop a bad attitude and let it affect their behavior too much.
I heard of a more serious outbreak in a New York City soup kitchen line when a guy went to the front of the line and provoked a melee. Eventually the police showed up and everyone had to scamper out.
What's the meaning of this?
Some folks feel like the world is against them and they don't have any manners or morals.
For some it was a very wet and unfriendly weekend.
I heard the guy who provoked the fight say raccoons had ruined his tent and he's miserable trying to battle the elements.
I wish now I'd try to help him more, but my camping compadre has endured numerous nasty misadventures with other campers in the past and he's very persnickety about who shares his campsite.
Sunday night he secured a larger tent for a mutual friend and recruited a snuggly sleeping bag for himself.
Likewise a friendly lady donated two sleeping bags for my benefit. And she told me if it gets cold to come to her domain, but told me not to bring anyone else.
The benefits of being a nice guy and making a good impression on folks from the outset leads to other good deeds.
The moral of the story: Be nice and friendly with everyone. Don't let the frustrations of misfortune affect your life and create trauma drama.

ushering

Arkansas ushered in a new era of football with the emergence of Ryan Mallett's throwing expertise.
Likewise, I ushered in a new adventuresome life style Saturday.
Hopefully this will lead me out of the woods and into a more prosperous milieu.
Thanks to former Razorback baseball coach Norm DeBriyn and long-time sportswriting friend Nate Allen I'm happily employed by the University of Arkansas as an usher at football games.
This has been a very exciting week capped by the Razorbacks' 44-23 conquest over Auburn.
I need to ascertain whether I can be an usher at basketball and/or baseball games.
In that eventuality I hope to save money in my bank account and plan for the future budgeting my money wisely.
Right now I have two invitations for winter housing.
My friends in Bentonville Trina and Berry Williams offered me a place to sleep on a pallet at their duplex.
Last night a lady told me I could stay at her apartment if it's cold or wet.
In the grand scheme of things, that's good for me, but I would really prefer everyone who's homeless could receive similar invitations.
Kent Marts, editor of the Daily Record, told me I could write anything I desired, but he advised me not to write about the skunk problem.
He would prefer an article about a homeless family in Bentonville as it preps for the cold weather upcoming.
That's going to be a challenge for me and the family who we end up documenting.
I hope to come to Bentonville on Thursday and meet some newfound friends and seek some advice on how to proceed on this project.

altruism

I believe in the verities of reciprocal altruism.
That entails whenever you do something to help someone else out just because you want to care and don't expect anything in return, it will come back to you when you need it the most.
Indeed, friends of mine have expressed an interest in helping me out if I need a place to stay during the cold weather.
I also have received some advice about how to handle my situation with Pepe LePew, a skunk with a nose and teeth for invading my living quarters.
Friends have told me to spread cayenee pepper around the perimeter of my tent.
And one said to take duct tape and double fold it and then put pepper on the sticky side so when the skunk starts sniffing it pepper will either drive him away or get lodged in his nostrils which will be even more disconcerting.
That's my next game plan when I get my food stamps updated on Monday.
Achoo, Pepe Le Pew!