The Man on the Street Corner

So we read this poem today during a meeting/discussion at work...

A Bed for the Night

I hear that in New York

At the corner of 26th Street and Broadway

A man stands every evening during the winter months

And gets beds for the homeless there

By appealing to passers-by.

It won't change the world

It won't improve relations among men

It will not shorten the age of explotation

But a few men have a bed for the night

For a night the wind is kept from them

The snow meant for them falls on the roadway.

Don`t put down the book on reading this, man.

A few people have a bed for the night

For a night the wind is kept from them

The snow meant for them falls on the roadway

But it won't change the world

It won't improve relations among men

It will not shorten the age of exploitation. 

- Bertold Brecht

I felt a strange connection to this poem. Maybe it was because I want to be that man. Maybe it was because I don't know if I have what it takes to be that man. Maybe it was because the more time I spend on this Americorps mission of "allivating poverty" the less I believe it is possible to allivate poverty. Maybe it was because I know from my visits to the homeless shelter here in Nebraska that it is not uncommon for someone to freeze to death blocks from the shelter, they just never make it there. Maybe it was because I know what I am doing is not going to change the world, but I pray every night that I can change it for one person. 

Maybe things will never get better?

I've been trying to find my answer to the questions, "Why do you want to help people?" and it is a much harder question then you think. If I want to devote the rest of my life to "helping people," there must be some reason that is truthful for me. And I don't know if I know the answer right now.

But maybe if we all take a second to be thankful for all that we have: thankful for the good and bad that we have gone through, thankful for the support and love - regardless of who it has come from -  it becomes a little bit clearer. And maybe if we think about being in the position of the homeless person without the bed: the humility it takes to ask for help, to admit that we need help - think about the people who helped us in those bad times, you realize you can be that man on the street corner. 

I think that's what I am trying to grasp. To know that what your doing is not going to change the world, it may not even put a dent in the problem, but you still believe in standing out in the cold every night to offer a warm bed.

Just whats going through my head this Friday night.