Deserving

I left my job this morning and drove home on a sunny beautiful September day.

As I exited the freeway I immediately noticed a man holding a sign on the side of the ramp. The sign was written in clean neat penmanship and read "Traveling, Broke, Anything will help, Thanks"

When I lived in Arizona there were men begging on almost every major freeway on and off ramp. I had even had people approach me in parking lots to ask for a buck. After a while of living with that I found it easy to ignore. To just drive by without looking.

But today was a different story. As I sat stopped on the off ramp I felt like I had an eternity to study the young man holding the cardboard sign. He was in his 20's, clean cut, dressed in clothes that my 16 year old would wear. He was ordinary.

But because he was holding that sign I thought about him. Did he think we were all judging him as he walked along our cars asking for gifts? Did he wish he were as fortunate as us? Did he care? Was he a criminal? a cheat? down on his luck? deserving?

Deserving? Who is deserving? Is he deserving just for being put in the position where he feels the need to ask? And what does he deserve?

I looked around my car to see what I would have to give. Not sure that I would even give it. There was nothing of value except some change in my ashtray. That did not seem enough.

As I pulled past him he looked at me, I looked at him, smiled, and held my hand up to wave him the best. He acted surprised and dropped one side of his sign to raise his hand to wave back.

I thought about him all the way home, feeling sad, trying to answer my own questions, not finding the answers, but knowing that everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Hoping the young man finds what God intends for him, and that my smile and wave made him feel like he is deserving of that.