8/14/2019 Bread and Oranges

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JANUARY 10, 2012 7:47PM

Bread and Oranges

~ They that die by famine die by inches. Matthew Henry

A few months ago, I wrote about "Info Man," the homeless young man who lived in a phone booth next to my school. He was there all summer and into the fall, but about

October he disappeared and has never returned. I hope he found a

girlfriend. nli!ely as they may be, that is what I hope for him. ove can cure

what money can not.

#here is an old man who lives in a ma!e$shift tent in the corner. #here must be a

source of heat along the wall that he strings up his clothesline, and hangs a variety of

 padded blan!ets and sleeping bags over, forming a %.  On top of that he has a large

old plastic poster to !eep the wet out.  He tuc!s the blan!ets in such a way that it

forms this odd$shaped cocoon where he sleeps, and it has been $&'( for more than

two wee!s now.

One morning he was dismantling his cocoon and I noticed a large half$gallon oil )ug,

half$full of pee.  I reali*ed that was his toilet.  +hen I see these things, I reali*e my

 problems are actually insignificant, and that the world can be a much colder place for

others than it is for me.

8/14/2019 Bread and Oranges

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(hinese ew -ear is a few wee!s away, and Mandarin oranges are always in season

and cheap.  asy to peel and seedless, even my dog loves them.  I buy them at the

little store near my apartment building/ the owner li!es to watch HaHa do the 0(ha

(ha1 on his hind legs while he peels one for him.  #hey go bad in a few days, and I

was throwing them away until I remembered the old man in the tent, and started buying a few extras.

I have the habit of putting my change in little plastic bags to give away to the old lady

 beggars that hang out at the +estern grocery stores 2I give the old men a

cigarette3.  In the morning when I am getting my school bag ready, I throw a bag of

change into a small bag of oranges and I drop it off on my way to school. 4or whatever reason I was feeling sorry for myself this morning, and when I stopped

to put the oranges down I noticed he had a child5s tricycle under a separate tarp.  I

thought,

0+hat on earth61

#hen I noticed someone had hung two small bags of bread on the handle bars of the

tricycle.  I put the bag of oranges on the seat.  As I wal!ed away I was struc! by a

moment of universal connectedness, to !now that someone else was doing the same

thing, and for )ust one moment my spirit touched theirs, whoever they are. ater, I

reali*ed it was spring festival and someone may have given him the tricycle to give toa grandchild.