Who was Uncle Sonny?

Homelessness is a social crisis in the United States.  One in fifty children or 1.5 million children in the United States will be homeless each year.  Causes of homelessness include:  lack of affordable housing, eviction, unemployment, foreclosure, poverty, fire, natural disasters, divorce, no family, post traumatic stress disorder, mental illness, physical disability, substance abuse, and the list goes on.

 

There is a man sitting on the street.  He looks cold and hungry.  His eyes are filled with sorrow.

What do you do? Take a deep breath and go to the other side of the street?  Stop and talk to him, ask him his name, offer to buy him a meal?  

 

My Uncle Sonny died a homeless man.  It took days before the police were able to locate his family.  It was like he didn’t exist.  And that was the hardest part for me.  I had only seen my Uncle Sonny in photos.  He was always smiling, he seemed so happy.  I wanted to remember him as I had known him...through photos, not as the world saw him...as a homeless man.  My Uncle Sonny was a lot of things.  He was a husband,  father, grandfather, son,  brother, brother-in-law, but most importantly, he was my uncle. 

 

My mom said that Uncle Sonny never quite fit into the world.  He was an alcoholic and alcohol was his safe place, his shelter.  I couldn’t help my Uncle Sonny and I don’t even know if he would’ve let me.  But I can make sure I am as kind as I can be to those who have nothing.  It’s my way of honoring my Uncle Sonny.

 

I often wonder:  Did people see him and go to the other side of the street? Did he hold a sign and ask for help? Did they ask him his name?  Offer to buy him a meal? Give him a coat so he could be warm?  I wonder though if anyone really knew how wonderful a man he was; if they knew he was a husband, father, grandfather, son, brother….if they knew he was my Uncle Sonny, would they have treated him differently?

 

If we wondered these things about everyone, what would it take for us to take that deep breath and go to the other side of the street?