It was pretty chilly and breezy by the lake last Sunday. 7:15pm and it’s still light out and people were everywhere out shopping on this busy street, Michigan Ave. A small red car blasted the horn and a woman yelled “fucking ass hole”. There’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Did anybody really care? Did it bother someone who had sat down quietly on a sidewalk next to a bus stop across from the Water Tower? She has a plastic cup placed in front of her so sometimes people would put a couple of coins in it.
I have seen it all the time, people that take advantages from someone’s kindness. They’re faking it or maybe too lazy to get out there and find a job. But this girl is new to me. Interesting hand writing on the sign, a Holy Father book next to her side and her pretty face. She got my attention. I crouched down and sat on my toes raising my camera then started taking pictures. My toes stated to hurt as I tried to get as low to her sitting position. I finally gave up and completely sat down on the street just 5 feet away. I am too cheap to get better zoom lens. Strangely, she looked at me and I could see that she had blue eyes. I was waiting for the right moment hoping for traffic and a crowd to pass by, and maybe… my camera would capture all busy surrounding around my subject. Once in a while, my subject would turn to see if I was still there, accompanied her. Her expression showed embarrassment then she turned away and looked sad again. Here again! big crowd passed by and I snapped a few more pictures. Twice, some shopping bags hit me in the head! But as long as nobody ran me over, I should be fine. A lady stopped me and asked if my subject were my friend working on a photography project then I realized I probably had been hurting this young girl’s business.
I pulled out the only $5 dollar bill in my pocket and dropped it in the cup in front of this young girl. It was a payment or a thank you to her assistance I owed, I thought. She looked up at me. She said “Thank you. God bless you” with her grateful sweetest voice.
I didn’t expect that. And her saddest, the most pale blue eyes I have ever seen... I knew she was real and she was kind.
Lately I often think negative about my life, my job and doubt about choices I made. And I let it upset me and people who care about me. I think it’s ok to feel the emptiness in your heart and question yourself what you accomplish in life. But once you’re done feeling sorry about yourself. Pull yourself together and start thinking as hard as you can. What are you gonna do about it? Will you do whatever takes to fix it? I believe we all have ability to do that. Turn our lives around. We all are in some places just for a while. The young girl I saw on the sidewalk... didn’t she do whatever takes to survive hoping for the better too.
Wherever she is heading, I hope her holy father will lead her way, protect her from all harms and help her find the happiness she’s looking for. Or maybe…she was an angel. She was there rescuing me.