I posted this on FB, but I thought I would share it here as well. Sometimes we forget our simple blessings of living in a safe home.
So last night, I had a chat with a woman I am friendly with who also works in my office building who lives in a pretty bad neighborhood. In past conversations she has commented that it is not a great place, but all she can afford. Something was off with her, and she was far less engaged than usual. She told me her boyfriend and two sons were at the basketball court playing last week, and her boyfriend was shot and killed in a drive-by - in front of her sons. Her boyfriend was not in a gang, he was a good guy, just wrong place, wrong time. Her sons now are afraid to go outside.
She just kept shaking her head saying "we were doing OK, we were doing OK".
She wants to move to a safer neighborhood for herself and her two sons, but cannot afford first and last to move. She lives check to check.
She is a nice woman, always pleasant, and sometimes, we visit and talk. We laugh, and share thoughts about the shenanigans going on in the world. She could be me if I had been born into different circumstances.
My heart kind of broke for her, as a mom, with so few options - knowing that she wants to and should do better for her children, but not being able to do so.
She wants to move to a safer neighborhood, and the biggest detriment is first and last. It is just money. I gave her a bit to start her fund. Not a lot, but something. She was not asking, and tried to refuse it saying she could not accept it. I just asked her to let me start it, and maybe over time, there would be enough.
In terms of having a safe home I have been blessed in so many ways; she did me a favor in letting me feel a little less guilty for all of those that I received.
Updated On: 4/2/13 at 10:10 AM
I kid. Did you smack anyone? 
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