About two years ago, I was walking down the streets of Chicago at about 3:00 am. I had just finished a project (internet consulting) and was too excited to go to bed. I was walking alone and kind of wanted to talk to someone and I don't know why, but I started talking to this homeless guy. Immediately, I couldn't believe how educated he was - he read the newspapers every day. We talked for about an hour, then sat down at McDonalds where I bought him a few burgers and fries.
I asked him how this happened to him and he really broke down and told me about the whole thing from beginning to ending. He had been laid off and screwed up not looking hard enough for a job. His home was foreclosed and his wife left him and took his two kids. He showed me the pictures that he carried around in his bible.
Anyway, we ending up talking for a few hours and I offered him some help. I gave him enough money to rent a cheap hotel room, buy some decent clothes, and shave. He promised he was going to look for a job starting the next day, since he would be very presentable. I gave him my phone number.
The next day, he called and was extremely excited - he wanted to show me how cleaned up he looked and how well rested he was sleeping inside on a bed (it was winter and raining/snowing outside.) By Monday (two days later), he landed a job at a nightclub sweeping up after it closed. He gave them my phone number as his contact number and called me every day to check any messages.
Two weeks later he got a second job at a McDonalds (actually the one that I bought him his food.) He called every couple of weeks and talked - he was extremely grateful for my help.
About six months later, we met for lunch and he took out $100 and wanted to pay me back for the money I had given him to help him get started. I thanked him and told him that I would prefer that he give the money to someone like himself who would use it to start a new life.
This was a really touching experience for me. I believe without a doubt that our present circumstance and future situations are a result of our actions. Actions have consequences; but I hate to think that a stupid mistake (like this guy made) would keep a person in misery for the rest of his life.
In the future, when times are going well for me financially again (I have been laid off and am in school now) I would like to try to help others as I have this man. I really believe that this is what conservatism is about. I don't believe in gov't programs in any way, shape, or form, but I do think that we need to personally give people a helping hand, if they are willing to accept it.
It drove him nuts to see so many people squander opportunity after opportunity. Very very few people took what was offered and ran but that very few that did were sure the high spot of the job. One guy burst into my dads office almost tearful as he showed dad is first paycheck.
Most people had to be called to get them out of bed and get them to go to work which they did poorly. Some opted to go back to jail rather than take the jobs that Dad got for them.