The common tongue refer to them as bums,
The common eyes doesn’t recognize them as humans,
The common ear fears the truth they say when they scream “I’m a human being too”
The common heart ignores that saying even though they’re correct,
I’m not common,
I’m somewhat familiar with their kind,
Born in Miami raised in New York back to Miami I’ve had my experience with run ins with the homeless,
Plenty of times I put money in their palms since I was a young one,
I grew older and life began to desensitize me,
I don’t carry cash or coins anymore due to our advances in technology,
I’ve had times where I turned the cold shoulder to some,
I’ve had times where I’d stand still in my tracks and converse with them,
Buy them food & say something uplifting,
It always intrigues me,
Every homeless person has a unique story attached to them,
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard someone say “That’ll never be me”,
It most definitely can be you,
I’m sure homeless folks never planned to be homeless,
Life is hard and shit happens,
I’ve been paying closer attention to the humans that many forgot exist,
I noticed this one man is up on the weekdays around 6:45am sitting down watching cars drive by as I head to work,
The same man has some energy and pep in his step around 4:10pm when I’m passing by heading home,
By 10pm when it’s gym time he’s laying down in front of the corner store,
I wonder how’s he feeling,
Did he manage to get some money today?
Did he eat some food?
Is he missing someone that may have past away?
Is he missing someone that left him?
What led him to this life?
Are people aware he’s still alive?
Does anyone care?
Day after day he rises out his sleep & faces his daily challenges and as the sun switches to the moon he lies back down,
We share the same amount of hours,
Our life is no where near similar,
I realize how privileged and blessed I truly am,
And I understand that I’m one traumatic event away from possibly being in his shoes,
Homeless people are humans too.
– Kenny Rhymes
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