People are people

A few weeks ago at a meeting held by the committee of people who own Okra Charity Bar the establishment I work at was scrutinized for letting homeless people walk in and use the bathroom and or purchase things.

Its hard to address this ugly topic.

 Homelessness.

So I wont, but I'll tell you the result of the meeting was that we were no longer allowed to serve homeless patrons or let them use the facilities.

Okay.

Today a homeless man wandered into the cafe, looking up at the ceiling, then down at the floor, repeating this several times before he settled into the darkest corner table and sat. He smelled of unwashed clothing and his eyes were glassy and vacant, but neither of those things bothered me as much as what he was wearing.

It rained today, the bottom of the sky fell out and soon the cool winter air was back with a quickness.

I looked at the man, he wore a brilliant red t shirt, dark colored long shorts, and the only thing covering his feet were open-toed sandals; it is cold outside. I ran over to my apartment to grab an old coat returning quickly. I approached the man

"Sir, I have to ask you to leave, but this is a coat for you, it's cold outside so you can keep it, it's yours now"

I handed him the coat and a hot chocolate in a to-go cup and then asked him to leave.

I don't have the things I want, and I don't have the money I'd like to have, but I do have a coat to keep me warm and now so does the homeless man trying to keep warm on a cold and wet winter's night in Houston, Texas.