As I served food at the homeless shelter I noticed the sort of people who were eating. One after another they would come up in a seemingly endless line. Black and white there was no difference. No one had showered in days; the white people were dirt smeared while the African Americans retained a color of mud.
A person might think that they are only their because, they don’t have jobs and are freeloading from these agencies. That is what I used to think until I was both told and realized that many of these people worked. They didn’t have glamorous jobs as CEO’S or managers, they were the working poor. They were the garbage collectors, or working minimum wage jobs. It was an effort on their part to save money to save for their needs such as rent, running water, or electricity.
After this realization dawned on me I went to help again the next week. There was the same number of people. After my volunteer shift was through I went and talked to several of them. Many worked small jobs as maids, or overnight jobs. The dirt I saw on them took a new light they were just off work and this was their dinner. Many of the people I talked to work 18 hour days with this being their only meal in 24 hours.
The next time you get a free Saturday head down to a food shelter to volunteer. You’ll feel good about yourself, knowing you did a good deed. The general conscience I got from the people there was that they didn’t like to be made out to be inferior. They are just the product of a tough life, and many curve balls thrown their way. Don’t look down on these people because they are the backbone of society, keeping all of us up.