HELPING THE HOMELESS

I’m an actor, and I never miss an audition for a film or play. When I heard about an audition for a new play last month, I applied for it. While I was on my way to the audition, I saw two homeless people, Francine and Barret. I gave a dollar to each one. Francine was crying. She told me that nobody listened to her and that people didn’t even realise that she was alive. I felt really sorry for her. I asked her if she’d like something to eat. She said yes, and we went to a café. She had a big sandwich. After we had eaten our lunch, I said that I had to run for the audition and that I would see her soon.

The next day, I saw Barret and gave him a dollar.He is an interesting young man in his thirties and looks like John Lennon in some ways. He is a completely free spirit. He reads books about psychology and physics and knows a lot about philosophy. I don’t even know why I did it, but I just sat down to be with him. I wanted to see more people stopping and helping the homeless, so I sat with Barret in the cold for an hour and a half. Mostly I just listened to him and experienced the feeling of sitting and watching life from a homeless man’s perspective.

As we were talking, he told me he became upset when people ignored him. Most of them stopped there in front of his sign, read it, but didn’t leave anything in return.

New York is a city of takers with very few true givers. In over an hour and a half, he made 70 cents. He said he would make between $7 and $11 on a good day.

Before I left, I gave him some more money. At that moment, I knew that I gave someone a little hope and, even for 5 minutes, the idea that the world isn’t a dark, selfish place. Hopefully Barret will continue to see life through that window of hope, and I’ll continue to do everything I can to help him.