Krista

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. For such a skinny girl, she had very swollen knees, often the sign of a site of repeated injections. I can spot an addict pretty easily, and she had definitely been riding the white horse. However, that doesn't mean they aren't trying 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 one nearby with an active social 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.

"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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