From time to time, we all experience days that may be cloudier than others; ones where we might be confused or feel lost or just plain sad. I went through a bout of these days recently, searching for answers and trying to rediscover the happier me that I knew lived inside. But it was when I let my guard down and stopped staring so hard to find those silver linings that the light found its way right into my heart. It permeated every molecule of my being and enlightened my soul and before I could even acknowledge it, a smile had grown on my face from ear to ear. Here's one of the great stories from this experience:
The Wonders of a Good Slice
My close friends and I reunited one Saturday night, painting the town Johnnie Walker black and other such intoxicating colors. As the night wound down, we grabbed a few slices from the closest thing to New York-styled pizza that we have here on the westside - Joe's Pizza Shop - and proceeded to walk over to the coastline to nosh and catch up with one another. As the pizza worked its magic and the words we were saying to each other began to make more and more sense, a man approached us politely and sat next to us on the bench.
"I don't mean to intrude - you guys seem to be having a good conversation - but would any of you be able to spare forty cents?"
Naturally there was a moment of hesitation, but when it was assured that this man was harmless, we dug into our pockets and scrounged around for some loose change. One of my buddies pulled up two quarters and handed it to the man.
"Oh. That's too much. I don't have the dime...you want me to go get it from somewhere for you?"
"No worries," my friend said. "You can probably do more with that fifty cents than I ever could." The man laughed genuinely and so did we. This communal laugh seemed to warm up our engines and broke the ice for a real-talk conversation of sorts.
He talked about his descent into homelessness and how it upset him that society shuns him. He was angry at the world because he felt like a human being, just like the people who walk and talk around him, but they didn't treat him like one. He said folks looked at him like he was an animal, scared to interact with him, if even just to respond to his hellos and waves.
He looked up at us, our eyes and ears locked in, listening intently to his stories. Then he suddenly stopped, put his hand on his heart and said, "this...this here's a God shot."
I'd never heard that phrase. "What do you mean by that," I asked.
"This is a God moment. You don't have to be here. You don't have to pay attention to me. You didn't have share this bench with me or listen to a word I said or give me a penny...why are you still here?"
"Well, I think everybody knows that feeling of being lost in this big world. Wishing for something better but not really knowing how to go about getting on the path to achieving those goals. I know at some point, when we felt like we were at the bottom, some people thought we (my friends and I) were crazy...like social outliers, because of our goals and dreams. But we still go for it, and I think we're doing alright. We've been blessed."
"And besides, you're a good storyteller and we wanna hear your story," I expressed with a smile. It was true.
He smiled brightly. You could see the confidence well up in his chest. Seeing this, I took a chance and asked him what it was that he wanted - truly wanted - to be when he was growing up.
"A chef. I loved being in the kitchen, coming up with stuff. There's just so much happening in a kitchen...it's a lot of fun."
When he said this, I pictured a little kid watching his family in the kitchen during a get together, taking in all the sights and sounds and smells wafting through the air.
"Sounds like a long shot, but you should go into a restaurant and see if there's any job openings. Even if it's for a busboy it'll bring you much closer to a kitchen...who knows. Maybe you'll pick up some skills and when they see what you're capable of doing maybe they'll give you a chance."
He went into a contemplative state. Shoot. Did I say too much? Was that offensive? I couldn't gauge his response. He just sat there, eyes darting around...first on his clasped hands, then at us, then up to the sky, then to the pizza box we tossed in the trash can.
"Where'd you get that pizza," he asked.
We pointed to Joe's and said we were heading back in that direction if he wanted to head that way. He joined us on our walk back.
He wanted to stop in and see if there was anything they needed help with at the shop and that they didn't need to pay him but with a slice of pizza.
As he marched into the shop and straight up to the manager, he shouted back to us, "hey, it's worth a shot!"
A God shot.
***
"The first step before anybody else in the world believes it is you have to believe it" - Will Smith
