I know I am writing a lot today. I have lots of free time today to think about things. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Should I become a homeless people’s advocate? There are no homeless people here. I have no one to help. I have only myself. There are no shelters or food kitchens in a small town like Lanett, Alabama. You would have to drive to Atlanta or Birmingham to find such things.
I have a firm view on the homeless problem. You can throw all the money in the world at it but it does no good. Even the famous “the homeless guy” said this in one of his posts. You have to help a homeless person on a case by case basis. Money will just get you a well fed and temporarily housed homeless person. You have to help a homeless person help themselves.
Not too long ago, I had the idea that I would start a mental health support group. It was based on the model of Alcoholics Anonymous. I even made out a flyer in preparation. I had it all set up and ready to proceed. I was at my sister’s wedding and talked to all my family about it. I was very excited. My father pulled me to the side.
“You need to help yourself first.” He said quietly.
I stood dumb founded and embarrassed. That sounded so selfish.
“What do you mean by that?” I said feeling kind of offended.
“You can help by helping yourself. That will go a long way to helping the problem of homelessness and the mentally ill.” He replied. “You have to get on your feet first to be able to help others. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
He was right in the end. I could help the most by helping myself. I took one more statistic off the streets and put him in a home. I started to take my medicine via shot and I stopped drinking myself into oblivion.
I sometimes fall into the delusion that my father is a son of a bitch and doesn’t know how to help but he helped me a lot by saying that. He is wiser than I let on. I had to take care of business at home before I started to help others abroad. That’s what I will continue to do. Someday I will be able to help others but for now I will concentrate on helping me get well.
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