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The sign reads “Not my proudest moment Never thought this would happen to me “God bless have a nice day.” The common thing that I’ve seen travelling to the major cities across the United States is that each veteran is apologetic for where there ended up. As Timothy, Manhattan NYC, kept his head lowered, he said I’m ashamed that I may see people that know me. As the holidays approach I challenge each person who reads this to help cloth someone in need bring a warm meal to someone who may be hungry in the blistering cold conditions or conversate with someone in need. You’d be surprised.
Timothy is a US Marine with service 1994- 2004 serving in Kosovo and Iraq. He now finds himself reading a book behind his sign and everything that he owns to his left. As I observed from the corner of a building, I watched how many people brushed up against him in their daily routines never stopping to acknowledge him or stop. As people’s legs brushed him as they walked by from the changing crosswalk signs he continued reading. At this point in the day he had if I had to guess maybe $2.00 in pocket change in his cup. I’ve had people reach out to me and say that you have to want to help yourself and also want to make change, but I think what I’m learning is most of us have the ability to make change because we are in better places. It is my assumption that once you have hit the place where these veterans who live on the streets are, they revert back to survival instinct and don’t know how. Their only goal is enough money for the day to eat, and to find suitable shelter for night