I overheard a homeless kid on Shattuck say . . . love can be simple & easy

He was holding up a part from his bike, showing it as broken. He said, with an air of deflation in his voice, "I am going to have to save up five bucks, then when I get the new part, I can ride my bike again."

I almost never give money to people asking for it on the street. I pass a gauntlet of many beggars every time I leave the house. I steel myself against them, usually politely say 'no thanks'. Most are polite, some are not.  They know me by sight so they know I never give money to any of them. I literally live 1/2 block away, pass by them repeatedly. It is my path to BART and buses. So it must have surprised the whole gaggle of homeless gigs when I gave that kid five bucks for his bike part.

In front of the Starbucks on Shattuck is a cluster of teens, usually, who seem very scruffy but otherwise harmless to me. Of course one would be scruffy if living on the street.

Sometimes you see one of them coddling a newborn. That breaks my being, a homeless teen nurturing her baby on the street. Fortunately the teen moms with babies don't seem to last on the streets. I sure hope social services reaches out to them.

I particularly dislike the gauntlet of teens who station themselves outside this Starbucks. They are clearly and pointedly suggesting "hey if you can afford four dollar lattes, you can help us out."

When I heard this kid say "I'm going to have to save up five bucks, man it will take forever, but once I get the new part, the bike will be as good as new."

He was not talking to me. He was talking privately to his girlfriend.

I kept walking but his broken bike part worked me. I decided I would check the pocket where I keep bills and if I had a five dollar bill, I wold go back and give it to the kid.

I did have a fiver. I did go back and give it to the kid. i said "are you the one with the broken bike part?" As he said "yeah" he waved the broken part in front of me.  I handed him my five dollar bill and said "I overheard you say you needed five bucks and I told myself if I had a five dollar bill, I'd give it to you."

I am crying as I write now. The kid lit up like a Xmas tree. he thanked me profusely and i started to walk away. He said 'wait, wait, can I have a hug?" and I hugged him. As I did I whispered, "please buy the part, you'll have food today, buy the part no matter what." and he whispered back that he would.  In my whisper, I sent him more than a wish that he would buy his bike part. I wished him all good things, happiness, love.  He's just a kid, likely living homeless in Berkeley because that is better than home. I had an unhappy family growing up but they fed, sheltered, clothes and did not brutalize us physically. My family of origin was emotionally brutal but that was all they knew. As Louise Hay says in the intro to her great book "You Can Heal Your LIfe", we're all victims of victims. Reading that was a healing balm. I forgive my parents instantly after reading it. My parents abused me becuse it was what they knew.   Life at home was bad enough to run away from home and live on the streets. I longed to run away. I even packed a suitcase a few times and left but I would quickly realize with no money, I had no idea where to go. I don't want to imagine how bad life at home has to be to prod a kid to live homeless instead.

Please goddess, let us create the beautiful world we know is possible.

It doesn't really matter if he bought the part, altho I was pretty sure having his bike running mattered to him.

I loved that young man, a child really, someone's son, when he asked me for a hug. Loved him more as I hugged him.

he's someone's son. Someone changed his endless diapears, fed him liquids then baby foood and taught him to walk and, I hope, sent him to school. If  he is living on the street in January, he's not one of those summer vacation homeless kids out seeking the alternative life. He's out on the streets because being at home was harder than living homeless.

My  five bucks was nothing.

"Please buy the part" I said. I really wanted his bike to be working again.

That young man and I loved one another for a few moments. Love can be that simple.