street Truth

I am really starting to appreciate the homeless people in our city, since I began my employment at Public Outreach. I was working in Gastown this past Thursday and a man named Andre was sitting on the same corner as me on Water and Cambie. This man inspired me so much. He played music for me until 2pm when I went on my lunch break. Hugging his guitar with his head rested against the side of it, eyes closed, the music he was making and his guitar were as much apart of him as our breath leads us through each day. Today I was at Grandville Island and there was a man, not homeless, well dress with multiple CDs playing for the people walking by. Compared to Andre he was nothing.

I started to get frustrated with all the people walking past, ignoring Andre. They couldnt open up there ear or eyes long enough to the surroundings around them to notice the beautiful music that encompassed this kind man. I spent a good amount of time talking with him, I even bought a CD from him for $10 ($5 went to purchasing the CD, $3 was donated to Union Gospel Mission, $2 profit). He lives in a home that costs $375 per month without a window or plumbing that works. I don't know what it was about Andre that captured me, I felt so drawn to this beautiful soul. Unlike many of the people that we see on the streets who have mental disabilities, Andre seemed coherent, intelligent and completely aware of his surroundings. Trust me I have talked to enough now to understand that Andre had the majority of his marbles.

I really think that we as a society need to start listening to the intelligence of the people around us and learning from that. We rely too much on books, websites or pieces of paper to inform us of our intelligence. What ever happened to just talking to people and learning from then, it seems that people only accept something as fact if they see it written down somewhere. That silly printing press is making a wreck of oral traditions. Maybe it frustrates me because I feel like much of my intelligence has come from experience and people. The majority of the time people dont take that seriously and will give something that is written the title of Truth. I feel like now that I have written Truth down I shouldnt have, it can open a big can of worms. Truth.