by G. Jack Urso
I just got back
from buying groceries. Mostly cat food and litter as usual for my little tribe
of rescues. In the parking lot, a young woman, mid-20s, thin as a bone, bad skin,
crying, approaches me. Her face screwed up in suffering — not a physical pain,
but a deep emotional pain.
I taught in
prisons and in an Alcohol and Drug rehab, so I can spot an addict pretty easily. For such a skinny girl, she had very swollen knees, which could be the sign of a site of repeated injections, and her eyes looked red from more than crying, so it seemed she was at some point during a trip. However, that doesn’t mean they
still won't try to con you out of some bucks. They're addicts. No one is hiring
addicts and whether it is digital, coin, or paper, this world still runs on
cash.
There were
others in the lot, but I get picked. She runs her story by me, but I can hardly
understand a word she is blubbering so much. A crying con job would still be
legible enough to hear the hook.
I asked her, “Haven't
you got any friends, or family, a church?” I name a well-known one nearby with an active
street outreach.
“No . . . no . .
.”
“What's your
name?”
She mumbles
something.
“I'm sorry. I
didn't hear you.”
“Crist . . .”
she begins, but I can't hear through all her blubbering.
“Chrystal?” I
ask, seeking clarification.
“Krista,” she
finally stammers out.
I almost never
carry any cash, but I had a couple bucks and slipped them to her.
“Well, Krista,
my name is Jack. I'll pray for you.”
She silently
takes my money and slinks away, still crying.
I'm not a
religious or spiritual person, and rejected church a long time ago, but it
costs me nothing if she thinks someone in the world is hoping for the best for her.
You have to be
hard up to be hustling for a couple bucks in a parking lot. Maybe she'll stop
crying as soon as she is out of earshot. Maybe she'll use it for drink and
drugs, hopefully food, but that is not my concern.
The question is
not what kind of person she is for running a con — if that's what she was doing
— but rather what kind of person I would be for turning her away if she was suffering.
“Krista,” by the way, is the feminine Greek word for “Follower of Christ.”
Matt. 25:40 — And the King shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
And that, my
friends, is the sermon of the day.
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