A Homeless Man
There is a saying “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” meaning I might not like something and throw it away, and then someone might love it and take it. I remember seeing a homeless guy searching trash cans looking for something he could sell. I asked him why he did that. He looked at me and said “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” which I didn’t understand at that time.
In fact, he was collecting stuff he needed not only to sell, but stuff he needed to make his home. This man lived in the park by my house. No one really bothered him because he was respectful and would clean up after himself. I went running in the park one day and saw him putting together a bed with stuff he had collected from the trash. He always looked for clean stuff. If it had food trash on it, he wouldn’t take it. I went back to my car and took a blanket to him. He saw it and thanked me.
I remember one day the police were bothering him because they had to take away his stuff. The members of the neighborhood went to the police and told them that he wasn’t hurting anybody by being there. The homeless man looked at everyone and thanked them, but told the police to take his home away if they had to. “I know you guys are just doing your job. Go ahead,” he said.
When the police heard him say that, they decided to leave him alone. He has been there for a couple of years now. He has even started planting a garden outside by the football field. People often go and give him food and other items he might need. He has made trash into his treasure.
