What a Walking Stick Revealed

Last year when our son came home from college for the summer, his car was filled to the brim with bags of clothes, musical equipment, and miscellaneous items.  Although this scene was nothing new, there was one new item he did unpack; a fairly large, nice walking stick.  When I asked him where he got it, he responded that a homeless man gave it to him to thank him for dinner.  I thought perhaps he bought him a meal at a nearby Subway or McDonalds, but that’s not how it went down.   

Boston has its share of homeless people, like any large city.  Many of the residents there take the same route to school or work each day, often passing the same homeless people.  But this one man who was in his late 40s was only seen four times by our son.  ‘Michael’ was handing out double sided typed printouts that he made with bulleted suggestions on ways society could reform education.  It cited facts and social reform ideas by others. He was trying to get people on the ‘educate our kids differently’ train.  Our son, who loves deep conversations, agreed with some of his ideas and thought he was a fairly intelligent man.  He did add though that ‘the word clean did not belong anywhere near him.’ 

Learning that Michael was a vegetarian, our son brought him to his nearby apartment and made dinner for him.  He sautéed some veggies and then added pasta which made up their meal.  This happened not once but four times, accounting for the four times they had contact.  After their last supper, our son gave Michael $10 bus fare so he could go back to the outskirts of town by the river that he called home.  Michael thanked him by giving him his walking stick. 

They never saw each other again.  That was over a year and a half ago. 

So, there were two ways I could have responded to this. 

1) Why the heck did you have to take him back to your apartment to give him dinner?  Couldn’t you have bought him a meal somewhere?  That was not smart bringing a stranger into your apartment.

2) Wow, that was really great that you conversed with this person who had something to say and brought him into your home to enjoy a home-cooked meal while sitting on your comfy couch.  

If you know me, or have grown to know me from reading my blog, you can probably guess how I responded.  I wish I could have been the mom who had the second reply, but at least I can say that I reared a son who responded in an altruistic manner.   To me, the walking stick is symbolic of him seeing the good in others.  

Not the actual walking stick, which currently resides in Boston.