Widow's Mite
Connor stopped by for his semi-regular visit, at the usual time. It was around 5 p.m., dinnertime. The doorbell rang. “Oh no,” I thought. "Food is going to get cold, conversations unfinished, and relaxation interrupted."
Indeed it was my new friend. He stood on the carport refusing to come into the house, although he was invited several times. And, conversation with him was interesting, as always. As I’ve said before, Connor is an intelligent man, but with obvious problems. We talked about many things.
He stood beside my old, but clean and reliable, van and told me what he thought. “What a piece of junk. What did you pay for it? Maybe $400? Don’t these people pay you anything?”
“Well, Connor, I like my van. Look at it. It has leather seats. I think it looks good.”
“It’s a piece of crap.”
“O.K.”
I know Connor lives in an abandoned building down the road. He sleeps in a make-shift cardboard bed, lined with old jackets and blankets for warmth. He cooks on a propane stove. And he’s been doing such for as long as people around here can remember.
“Have you ever thought about living in an apartment?” I asked.
“Yeah, I have. One time I had matters all arranged. But, if I were to move into an apartment, then it would all stop.”
“What would stop?”
“It. See there was a guy up the road and it stopped for him. He ballooned up, and got really fat.”
“But, Connor, living in an apartment is good….”
The conversation abruptly and characteristically changed.. He was off onto another tangent.
“You know I fill up my van with day-old bread, and get food from the dumpsters, and give it to hungry people.”
“Yeah, that’s very thoughtful of you.”
“But, you know, sometimes in order to get them to take the bread, I have to give them a dollar. Especially the Mexicans.”
“You have to give them a dollar?”
“Sometimes two. I don’t give them much, now. Just enough so they will eat.”
I thought what a kind heart this man has.
“I’ve got something for you,” he said in his matter-of-fact manner. He handed me a money order, typed out to the church, for $100. My heart melted.
“Use it for whatever you want.”
“Connor, this is so kind of you…. But, my friend, you don’t have much. Why don’t you take this money and buy some food, or clothes? You could really use a nice jacket.”
His mind was made up. Just like with my van.
“I’m going to put this money into the benevolence fund, so we can help needy people. Often someone will come by needing food, clothes, or shelter. You’ll be helping them.” He didn’t offer to acknowledge my words.
Then he said something additional, and interesting. The night before, he sat through the church business conference as we discussed the purchase of new cushions for the pews.
“Why don’t you take the $15,000 you are going to use on pews, and get a doctor to come in here and help poor people?
“It’s $8,000”, I replied, almost inaudibly.
"Whatever."
It was time for Connor to leave. I offered him a ride. He refused. I watched as he walked down the road. I held his check gingerly in my hands, like something fragile and precious.
02.13.07 (10:33 am) [
edit]
posted by:
Barbara (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (11:11 am)
Do you have a copy of "The Widow's Mite" by Ferrol Sams that I could borrow?
posted by:
bawdy (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (11:40 am)
Hmmm, what an odd, kind-hearted fellow!
posted by:
drforbush (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (12:35 pm)
I see guys like him at the homeless shelter all the time. They mean well, but they also get annoying. They come in and eat the meal that we offer, and they tell you how it could be so much better if you made something else for them instead. And, these are the "Helping Hands" people who are not really supposed to eat anything just help serve the food and clean up...
posted by:
surrogate (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (3:33 pm)
Pretty interesting guy... his priorities are spot on.... sort of.
That van is a piece of crap. Don't they pay you ANYTHING?
Okay... so I've never seen the van... so?
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (6:05 pm)
Reply to: Barbara
Not familiar with the book.
Title for this blog comes from the New Testament,
Mark 12:41-44 (King James Version)
41And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
What she gave amounted to less than a penny, but Jesus knew that she gave all she had. He was impressed.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (6:06 pm)
Reply to: bawdy
It is interesting how the two so often seem to go together. It is unfortunate that we often are so busy focusing upon the oddness that we overlook what is good.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (6:09 pm)
Reply to: drforbush
This guy is mentally ill, obviously. He's a survivor. I'm fearful for others who are just as challenged, and do not have the survival capacity of Connor. I'm thinking our society, American society, is letting them down. Connor is a victim of an illness. If it could be brought under control, there is a bright and quite useful person waiting to come out and contribute to society. Alas, it will probably never happen.
posted by:
PastorDave (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (6:11 pm)
Reply to: surrogate
He cares for people. And, he is doing what he can to be of help. So, I'd say he is doing more than 95%. And, I was quite touched by his gift. It came from his heart, simply because he wanted to do so. I would think that God would be pleased, also.
posted by:
69whisper (
reply)
post date:
02.13.07 (9:00 pm)
yet to see such a person. he is an asset for the community he belongs to.
posted by:
69whisper (
reply)
post date:
02.14.07 (1:20 am)
and happy valentine's day :)
posted by:
drforbush (
reply)
post date:
02.14.07 (5:33 pm)
PastorDave,
You might be interested that your post actually got me thinking about our society. The problem as I see it is in our culture and what we value. I go into some detail in my most recent post, but it is also a bit abstract as far as this post goes.
My point in regard to this post is that we don't have a cultural view as to what our purpose as a society is. We have lots of churches and religions that tell us what our purpose should be, but they don't overlap as a nation. Some religions value the poor and homeless as people, but others believe that people are responsible for themselves. As a nation we leave the thought of their value to each individual. We hope that if we get a person to believe that they are valuable them they will respect themselves and help themselves. But we don’t send a message to them that they are valuable, instead they hear “loser” from everyone that passes.
Some, like Conner, have learned to created a false front where they pretend to be what they think of as a valuable human being - someone who knows the solution to your problems. He offers the solutions to prove his value, while everyday he is faced with a culture that calls him a loser.
When conservatives say that we are a society without values, they are not completely right. We are a society with values, but the conservatives don’t agree with the values that we have. Every culture has values, defined by what we as a culture put emphasis on. Our culture values material goods above moral or existential values. We have moral values, but they are something like, “might makes right” and “smart people get rich quick by deceiving the stupid.” Our existential values our based on “the purpose of life is to get as much as you can before you die.”
Thanks for the food for thought Dave….
