Yesterday, on the Overground Train, I had an epiphany of sorts.
While I sat on my seat to get from A to B and back from B to A, someone approached me with a Costa paper cup, looked me in the eyes, rattled the few copper coins in it and suggested I add what change I had.
Given it is now the season for giving (arguably), I looked at them and said I don’t have anything on me. They jingled their cup again and I said, seriously, I have nothing.
Considering that having a paid job is out of the question for me, I had a soul-searching question and asked myself, am I in the same boat as my friend who was rattling their cup?
Without a shadow of a doubt, we are in similar circumstances. We’re both taking what we haven’t officially worked for, with me constantly asking the tax payer’s money for funds to pay for my rollies, clothes, food and heating in my home…
In view of that, I sometimes wonder, in the spectrum of social status, are my friend who rattled their Costa cup and me pretty much on the same level?
In some ways, it is more a case of where we are on our journey in life.
After having experienced homelessness myself and living on frozen pizzas and cheap ice cream, finally, I have been given a more generous donation from the government which affords me the chance to pay for heating and lighting in my flat. Yes, I am less smelly as I can now afford a bath and maybe even buy a new shirt once or twice a year. Hopefully, my Costa cup friend is still yet to reap what they so rightly should be entitled.
Probably, my friend found themselves in that state by the grace of bad luck which was not their fault. Heck, anyone can become homeless. I once knew a man from an aristocratic family who thrived on being a “hobo”.
In view of all that, let’s celebrate our situations and realise that each of us who are alive today all have thoughts, feelings and dreams and we are all on the same planet with our own personal battles.
In an ideal world, we would all understand that each of us are in the same global community, have similar dreams and hope for better situations in our lives somehow. Be it the banker who will look forward to his annual bonus or the Costa cup rattler who just wants a bit of food and maybe a bit of love to survive.