I had a great day yesterday. Or at least I thought that I was. I went to Baltimore to interview for a job that I ended up getting. After the interview, I walked around a bit.
I saw my city, ravaged by the terrors of condemnation, people sick, women, children, and veterans were homeless. My heart breaks for my city.
As I continued along this path, I drove down a familiar road. The road is right next to Camden Yards. Many homeless people are lined up, hoping to find where their next meal will come from.
They are devastated, and have bleak looks on their faces. It is sad. The worst part about it all, is that no one seems to care. Not many people will take the time to give these beleaguered people hope.
Then I noticed a familiar face. A veteran. A Marine. His name is Joe. He remembers me and I tell him to hop in the car. I take him to Royal Farms and get him a couple of sandwiches.
As I get Joe sandwiches he says to me, “Why did you do this for me?” I can’t muster the words to say to him. He’s been through a lot, and he was so appreciative of what I had just done. End the end, he just wanted to talk. He just wanted a friend.
I spoke to him about his life, and it was a rough one. However, he reassured me that things would get better. His positivity, even in such a bleak situation, allowed me to see that things wouldn’t always be so bad. He also prayed for me.
Joe sat there for about 10 minutes, telling me about his faith. “Faith is a big part of a Marine’s life”, he said. That stuck with me. Although he saw death all around him, his friends being blown to bits by roadside bombs, his sanity being taken away from him, he stayed positive. He kept the Lord by his side.
Another thing that Joe said stuck with me. He said that people who were fellow Marines went over to Iraq and Afghanistan with the wrong goals in mind. Some people he said, “wanted to kill the most ragheads possible.” However, he said that these people aren’t true Marines. He said that his main goal over there was to protect as many innocents as possible. To give others hope.
Lastly, Joe told me about his original desire to join the military. He joined because he wanted revenge. Joe wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks, he wanted revenge for the innocents lives that were lost. His thirst for revenge started to go away once he saw that women, men, and children in Iraq and Afghanistan were downtrodden and also needed protection. “They were good people too”, Joe said. “I loved some of them like family. And I would’ve died for them, just like I would have died for my comrades in battle.”
As I dropped him back off at his previous location near Camden Yards, I saw more boarded up homes. More people addicted to drugs. More homelessness. More apathetic drivers. People who didn’t care about other’s misfortune. Then, it dawned on me.
I thought, “Why can’t we all make a change? Why can’t we make refurbished homes for the less fortunate? Why can’t we just stand together, regardless of political beliefs, skin color, which block that your from, who your boys are, etc.?
We need to make a change by ourselves. We need to go out of our way to help others. Listen to each others’ stories. There are so many people in this city that have been forgotten about. We shouldn’t forget that these people are human too.
