The Little Cardboard Sign

The summer after my junior year of college, I had the privilege of visiting the Blue Bird Café in Nashville, TN. While I was there, either Allen Shamblin or Steve Seskin (I can’t remember which) debuted their song, “Don’t Laugh At Me.” When I first heard the song, it moved me to tears. To this day, I find it very powerful. The concept of each of us being a person of dignity and worth is a concept that I stand on, yet how easy is it to forget this fact.

One of my favorite verses of, “Don’t Laugh At Me,” says:

“I lost my wife and little boy when
Someone cross that yellow line
The day we laid them in the ground
Is the day I lost my mind
And right now I'm down to holdin'
This little cardboard sign...so…”

Every time I see a homeless person now, I think of these words and remember that I don’t know his/her story and that underneath the dirt, grime, and cardboard sign, there is a person just like me.

And so…after suggesting the idea on both the Acteens and SC WMU Student Facebook pages (one year apart) and feeling very convicted that I had not taken my own advice, I finally purchased the supplies for and made five bags of food to keep in my car so that I’d have something more than random change to give the homeless men and women whom I see standing by the street.

As I walked the aisles of the grocery store, I asked myself what I would like to have if I did not have a home. Because I don’t know when I’ll give away the bags, I couldn’t fill them with perishable items, items that would melt, or items that couldn’t easily be opened, so that limited my options…yet I tried to find things that I might want. I must admit that I’ve never had potted meat or sardines but I knew they would last, so I bought those. I bought Vienna sausages, beans and weenies, green beans, fruit cocktail, granola bars, raisins, and juice boxes. I thought something sweet might be good, so I bought peppermint and Starbursts and threw in those little flosser things with peppermint flavor. Finally, I bought plastic ware, rolls of paper towels, and rolls of toilet paper. I figured that eating can be messy…and I know that I don’t like for my hands to be dirty when I eat.

As I purchased those supplies on Tuesday night and placed them in reusable shopping bags—I thought a reusable bag might come in handy—I prayed for the people who will receive them and filled the bags with blessings of God’s love. I also filled them with a separate Ziploc bag stuffed with personal hygiene items because I’m so fortunate to have them lying around. I prayed that for at least in that one moment when I hand him the bag, the homeless man whom I will call sir will feel as if someone has seen him and deemed him worthy of the time and effort that it took to make the bag.

We’re all in this world together, you know…and we all deserve to be seen and respected…because we really are all the same in God’s eyes…