One thing I learned from my mother and father

the art of giving is a blessing

I had a friend

toungue heavy 

but hands open like all she knew how to do was take, she taught me one thing

that ignorance and selfishness goes hand in hand

our sophomore year In high school

we'd always go to 7/11 and there'd be this homeless man

always on time to hold the door for us

he'd tuck his pride in the shopping cart next to him

extends his hands

palm full of beg flashed a smile

loneliness all in his grin but it warmed my heart everytime

the amount of heart he had

how hard he has it

gotta ask a stranger for money

but anyways

 i'd give him whatever change I had in my pocket

and my friend

she'd walk right past him laugh at the dirt and struggle

clinging to his beard and skin

mentioned how ugly it was way to good to say thank you sir

 for holding the door for me

one time she nudged me  and said "Brittany why you always giving that man your money he gone use it to buy drugs plus he's only homeless because he put himself in that situation"

I looked at her and said, "baby girl who ever told you you were god"

I asked her if she'd ever packed her home into a bag,

ever forgotten how the hug of a bed feels

ever rode a train with no destination

stretched a dollar into a days worth of food

used concrete for bed

rain for shower

outside for home

I said damn he's got a lifetime of days like this

a lifetime of letting his hands do the talking

of making use of what he's got

of accepting

of nights with the concrete

of stares off pitty

so the next time you wanna get godly with me

and judge another man for making a home from out of the streets

tell me your struggles

ummm . . . what

you failed your English test?

you broke a nail?

relation ship issues?

I bet that homeless man's got more heart than you

enough heart to tell you

 that there is home in it

and i'll tell you what homeless is

homeless is absence of heart

poverty of soul

life with no god

homeless is an undocumented student denied access to an university

homeless is an ex-convict's corporate future being ripped from his grip

it's the mental state of the cyber bullies

it's the wife of Sean Bell

the parents of Amadou Diallo

the children of Abner Louima

the family of Trayvon Martin

I can go on

its the fear that all arrows are terrorists

its no tax breaks for the poor only the rich

it's what's not being done about joseph Kony

or the minorities that elderly did not get to vote because of photo i.d. laws

was the mistake in letting bush turn the nation upside down

the disbelief in barack's efforts to turn the nation downside up

I told her homeless is a social construct

it's a state of mind

‎So when you see another homeless man lying on the street,

 thank that man for sharing his bed with you the next time you wanna call someone homeless

re-evaluate yourself

and if you ever think of telling someone not to give remember that

the art of giving is a blessing

it's what my mother and father taught me don't you ever stop someones blessings

 

 

inspired from the movie " Trinity Goodheart " . . .