An unfathomable number of things can happen throughout life, a series of unfortunate events could occur. Someone sitting in a comfortable chair at an office desk with a pleasant home to go to could just as easily be sitting in the clothes that they had been for the past month, and on the cold hard ground with their only possessions at their feet. Many people in our generation think less of others, and even less of what really matters in life. Manhattan is a fortunate area, but there are still people living in these situations; Manhattan’s Emergency Shelter Center director Emily Wagner estimated that there are about 500 people that they assist. Last year they assisted 475 people. The 2010 census showed the population of Manhattan was 52,281 people. Therefore, approximately 1/100 people in Manhattan are homeless or in crucial need of assistance.

People try to help in many different ways for many different reasons. Some stop to sit and pray with those who sit on the grass, others just hand them money and walk away quickly.These methods are helpful in some ways, but one can do much more.

Stop, get out and connect with others on a more humane level; one does not always have to offer help with money. Help comes in many ways, Mark Twain once said “Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Kindness is a form of help, and although sometimes people may not accept it or handle it as well as others it is worth a shot.

I understand that there is a stigma with those who may seem a little different, but they are people too. I have personally pulled over, gotten out to sit next to these people with signs asking for help and shared a sandwich with them to talk about life. Not all of them are dirty drug users that live off of garbage. Some of them are ex military: the men and women who went out to fight for our country that we praise. People are cast out and sent to live a life of poverty, then looked at like scum.

I came across a grade school teacher who loved her job and her students, but when her husband passed away her life seemed to go with him. She lost her house, and then eventually lost her job. After weeks of sleeping in her car, she began to sit on the side of the road and hope to find some of “God’s mercy.” She was ashamed to be recognized by those from her work and was disappointed in herself.

One day I saw her. Stopped my car, got out, removed my jacket and handed it to her along with a blanket. She cried and hugged me. It was then that I chose to sit down and talk to this woman about life and see if I could help her.

I have not seen her in a year as we never exchanged information. I believe that she found help, because there is always hope. Sometimes it just takes a helping hand to see it.