I am poor but I am rich.

My hair turned gray in my early 30’s (my first wife’s gift to me)I got my high blood pressure in my early 40’s (my second wife’s gift to me) I got my arthritis and skin cancer in my early 50’s (my gifts to me)

Now a can’t drive because I fall asleep when I drive and it is hard to get in and out of a car so I use those big long limos the local governments supply for $50 a month.

I walk as much as I can. (some days I have to rest my legs every other block)

If someone comes along that wants to do me harm I just look at them like I will kill them if they try anything. I can’t run so I have to look and act crazy and scare them away. It works because I have no fear and they realize it.

I am not afraid of pain or death. For the last 2 years I have been in pain when I walk and some times when I lay down. I died a couple of times in my life. I do not care about money. So I have nothing to lose.

I owe $1400 in credit cards and $15,000 in medical bills and I have less than $1,000 in assets. I make less than $15,000 a year.

I have a lot of friends and because of what I have I don’t wonder what they want. They all know that all I have to give is my heart. (Maybe that is why it is enlarged.)

I am happier now than I ever was. I made good money, had a big houses, had 2 families. I had my ups and downs. I was happier during the downs.

I control my income. If I wanted to add clients I could but I am semi-retired.

I am financially poor but I am wealthy. How can I say that? I have good friends and I am never sad. I have touched many people and I have made a difference in their lives. I have helped people find themselves. I have helped people eliminate the hatred in their hearts for others who are different than themselves.

I am happy about my age. Every day I am a day older and a day wiser. I enjoy writing and hearing from people that have been helped by it.

I do not worry about the future. I do not worry about getting older.

Age is the number of years that you have been on this earth. It has nothing to do with who and what you are. It is what you have done with your life that matters.

I have done many things I am not proud of and I have learned from my mistakes. 1/1/00 was the beginning of a new life for me. I have wiped the slate clean and except for my business I started over. I want to help others overcome their problems and start a new life too. I want to help others out of the holes they dug for themselves. I want to help them find themselves.

My background is an unusual life. I spent my life studying people. I spent a lot of time in the streets. I have known people with high incomes and I have known people with no incomes. I have known good people and bad people. My education is not from books, surveys and scientific studies but from the real world.

The most important things you learn will not be from school but from life. Look at the world around you not just your neighborhood. With the internet you have the world at your fingertips. If you are a parent study about drugs and what they do to the addict. If you are thinking about trying drugs look it up on the internet. Find out what can happen to you.

My Father Saved My Life After His Death

My father passed on the 50th anniversary of his and my mothers meeting each other.

In 50 years they never argued. I lead the Leave it to Beaver life. I was Beaver and my brother was Wally. My mother cleaned house and cooked in a dress.

He was the kind of person that everyone liked. He gave everyone a chance. He never let things get him down

My father’s partner had a 56 T-Bird. He went on vacation and left the car with my dad. I was 14 and No one was home but me. I took the T-Bird for a ride. 20 years later My brother and I were telling all. I told my father about the T-Bird and he said, “I knew I should have spanked you when you were a kid.”

The only time I heard anything close to an argument was at my brother’s wedding reception when he told a dirty joke. My mother looked at him and scolded, “Oh Bud!”

He was working for Chrysler and took part in a study of smokers and cancer. The study was checking for lung cancer. The doctor told him that he had cancer. My father said, “OK doctor what do we do now?”

The doctor was not used to the patient not being upset. He said, “How can you be so calm? Most patients cry or go into denial.”

My father said, “There is no sense in getting upset over what you have no control over. All I can do is have faith in myself, you and God.”

He had a bunch of tests and the doctor could not find where it was. My dad mentioned that he started snoring a few years ago and the doctor looked down his throat and saw it. He told my father that he had 6 months to live.

My father said,” I guess I better get my will together and enjoy what time I have.”

The doctor could not believe my fathers reaction. Two weeks later he called and said there was a new treatment that could cure him. It was cobalt radiation. For 6 months he went to the hospital 3 days a week for his treatment. He had black Xs on his face and neck to mark where the machine was aimed. They said at the end of the six months that it was gone. After five years they said he was cured.

He had cancer two more times and was cured. He had a growth where the first cancer was and the doctor that removed it cut a muscle in error. When he swallowed some food would go into his lungs. He went to the doctor and said he was having a problem swallowing. The doctor said it will be alright soon.

He and my mother moved to Arizona. He went to a doctor there and the doctor explained what had happened and told him he would have to have a tube put in his throat to stop the food from going into the lungs. He also said it may be too late.

It was too late. He passed away within a month. My mother would not sue the first doctor because, ” It was a mistake.”

3 years after he passed I was waiting to make a left turn on a 2 lane highway. I saw a car in my mirror and it was not slowing down. My father appeared next to me and said, “Relax son, there is nothing you can do.”

The car was totaled, The back seat was in the front. The back bumper was at the back of the front door (It was an escort.) I was knocked into a car coming from the other direction but luckily my front end only sideswiped the other car.

I got out and when the cop got there he was surprised that I was alive. I was not hurt.

Soon after I talked with my mother and told her about seeing dad. She said, “He is here. I can feel his presence and I know he is watching over me.” My daughter visited and said, “Dad I could feel grandpa’s spirit.

I went to visit and I knew he was there. At 3 am there was a knock on the door where I was sleeping. I got up and my mother was sleeping. I said, “Hi dad, I glad you are with mom.”

I feel that when two people love each other as much as my parents did that the first that passes waits on earth to watch over the other and the children. When my mother passes they will go to heaven together and from there they will watch over my brother and I.

When ever I am don’t know what to do I ask my father and he will let me know. There are too many people for God to answer all of the prayers so he has our deceased parents answer ours. Before they passed we went to them and after they pass they are still there for us. They are in our hearts.

A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person.

Living in Downtown Detroit I see the people society has forgotten. Many good people walk by the lost souls and do not see them. They may hear their words but do not listen.

These are the lost souls of any city. A man with one leg and no wheel chair or crutches who hops to the place he sits and begs at. There is a young man whose wheel chair is converted to a small bed because he has no legs and it is easier to lie on his stomach and move his wheels than to sit. There is the man with dirty dreadlocks in a wheel chair who goes to the back of a restaurant and gets left over food.

Most are homeless victims of heroin addiction. Because their loss was due to their own actions they can not get aid anymore.

Many homeless are there because they lost their jobs, someone close to them or in many cases were put out in the streets by the state when they should be in a mental institution.

The following is a composite of a homeless person. I know many like him in many ways.

A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person.

I am going to tell you about a day in the life of Joe Wino. Joe is homeless and a drunk. At one time he was a successful business man. He lost his family in an auto accident. After the accident he could not function. He started to drink to make the pain of his loss go away. He soon could not function at work and got fired. Then he lost his house and found himself in the streets.

During the warm parts of the year he sleeps on park benches, in alleys, in abandoned buildings, bus stop shelters or anywhere else he can lie down and go to sleep. During the winter if the shelters are full he tries to find something inside. It may not be heated he has some blankets to help keep the cold out of his body.

All of his belongings are in a plastic bag. In the morning he gets up and heads for the garbage cans and dumpsters. He looks for bottles that he can turn in for the deposit money, food or something to drink. He likes the dumpsters behind the restaurants because they sometimes have food, especially after meal times. If he is lucky he will not have to spend money on food. That gives him more for his liquid refreshment.

Joe is at the bus stop and when the bus stops he gets on and asks if anyone can help him with bus fare. If there is a sucker he gets the fare and jumps off. He can’t do this too often because each driver remembers him and will eventually stop picking him up. When he gets enough for a cheap half pint he goes to the liquor store and buys the cheapest half pint he can find.

Some times someone will take him to get food. Then he sells it for more cheep booze. Many of those on the streets are drug addicts too. Some have lost a limb or two because of their addiction. You see them on crutches, in wheel chairs or hopping around on one leg. During the day they are downtown begging from the office workers and shoppers. If the aren’t causing problems the police look the other way.

Joe’s day is spent walking, begging, checking garbage and having an occasional nap. As night falls he starts to think about where he will sleep. He finds a place in an abandoned building. He has a bottle that he will drink until he passes out. If he is lucky he will wake up in the morning. Maybe if he is lucky he will not wake up in the morning. If it’s cold he may freeze to death. He may be killed by another homeless person or some sick killer. He may die from the cheap booze.

How lucky he is depends on his living or if his death is painless. No one will miss him. No one will care. He is a lost and forgotten soul. Maybe is he is gone someone may wonder what happened to that bum that used to beg here. Maybe one person will miss him. I may miss him.

When we go if one person realizes we are gone then we were not totally lost.

© Copyright 2002 Lee W. Gaylord