You Gotta Be Taken To Be Taken To
Tuesday June 20, 2017. 10:17 am
“Simplify.
Life is good.”
A man. Maybe 15 years older than me, wears this T shirt.
Yesterday, I simplified.
Life symbols
Jared.
My phone.
Today life is quiet
End of entry
Note 6/23/2024
6/20/2017 was my 62nd birthday.
The night before, Jared, a homeless heroin addict who I had met in Stockton 2 weeks before, and who had stayed in my house since then, walked off into the night with my I phone.
Next day. I’m in a long line at DMV to get my license renewed when I spotted the man and his T shirt saying that I mentioned in the 6/20/17 entry above..
I had no phone. I had quiet.
In liberating of my phone, Jared had given me, at least temporarily, the gift of silence and simplicity.
In my encounters with the homeless, including letting them stay with me in my house, I lost lap tops, I pads ,my car twice. But, they took me to places and they gave me insights I never would have known but for them. It was privilege to be allowed into their world. I finally came up with the following to explain the rational behind my homeless involvement ;
“You gotta be taken to be taken to."
