last sunday stephen had to be the bouncer in the greenhouse and i had a lot of homework, so after i dropped him off i parked in the municipal lot across from the walton arts center and headed up to common grounds with my computer. i'd like to say that i'm always compassionate, putting others before myself, but that's a big fat lie. it was a a beautiful day outside and i'd had a great weekend so i was in a pretty good mood. as i walked past hog haus there was a man holding out his hand with change in it, asking for money. i think this was my first experience with a person begging here in fayetteville. it was an older man, probably in his 60's, he was disheveled and unshaven, i could smell his odor. at first i walked past him, but then i turned around and asked him what he wanted the money for, "just a cup of soup". so i told him i was going to common grounds to do some work and he was welcome to come with me and get something to eat. he teetered to his feet and followed me down the street. as we walked and i asked his name i realized that he was quite drunk. he ordered some creamy asparagus soup and said his name was james. his speech was slurred and he smelled really bad. let me take a moment and say that i love the liberal folks that work at common grounds. our waiter was so polite and never gave james or i any weird condescending looks, like many of the people that walked past us did. james told me that he was from around here, he used to ride the rails and lived around california for many years. he talked aobut driving his truck into a river when he got his license taken away and his girlfriend almost drowning, he cried. he said it took him an hour or two to get enough money to get a beer and sometimes he played his guitar for change. he cried at times, and eventually forgot my name and started calling me sissy. as we sat and talked for those two hours i kept praying, "Lord just tell me what to say, i'll tell him about you, just speak through me." i kept waiting for a time to speak to him, but i never felt like i should. eventually i left to go to grove and i walked james back to his bench. there is really no great point to my post, i'm just processing what happened and if i did that right thing. if you see an old drunk guy downtown he's friendly, buy him a cup of soup, he has an ulcer.
