Here For the Memories
A thought-provoking audio memoir shorts filled with stories, humor, anecdotes, and commentary on social, cultural, business, and religious issues. Whatever Linden remembers and thinks will entertain, challenge, and inform is a possible subject.
Here For the Memories
An Inspiring Escape From Homelessness
In this episode of "Here for the Memories," reflect on your own interactions with the homeless and explore how your actions, not just your feelings, can manifest compassion and support. We'll delve into personal anecdotes and thought-provoking commentary, emphasizing the importance of empathy in our daily lives. As we cherish these memories, let's commit to making a meaningful impact and fostering kindness toward those less fortunate. Join us in uncovering the incredible humanity and potential within the homeless community, and let John Parnell's story inspire you to contribute to positive change.
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Here For the Memories
Here for the memories thought-provoking audio memoir shorts filled with stories, humor, anecdotes and commentary on social, cultural, business and religious issues. Whatever Lyndon remembers and thinks will entertain, challenge and inform is a possible subject. The collection of memories about one's life allows for the development and refinement of a sense of self, including who one is, how one has changed and what one might be like in the future.
Speaker 2:Greetings and salutations. I'm Lyndon Wolfe and you have happened upon here for the Memories, my audio memoir. I believe you will find this encounter a happy accident if you believe in life's absurdity. One of the most profound and transformative experiences I had in my career had to do with a very unlikely person. You will see from his story that it's difficult to separate career from calling and even ministry. Ministry, whether directly related to our faith or church or in the context of our working lives, is seeing all people flourish, grow and realize their potential. So you don't have to be religious to be in ministry if you will. So be patient, eventually you will see. This is John Parnell's amazing story.
Speaker 2:Well, it all started when I drove by Tent City one Saturday. Tent City, of course, is where homeless have gathered and created an encampment of sorts under a bridge, usually to protect them from the elements. But one Saturday I was driving into downtown Nashville and I saw a tent city and as I observed the encampment, I was wondering what had gone wrong in the lives of these hundreds of homeless who had taken up residence there under this large bridge. My thoughts drifted to their poor choices and to what an eyesore and drain on society they had become. In all honesty, I was very close to believing they were worthless. Honesty, I was very close to believing they were worthless. Ironically, I was on my way to serve with a mobile homeless ministry in downtown Nashville. According to the ministry's founder, there are approximately 10,000 homeless in this average-sized city and on any given day, only about 10% of those receive a decent meal from a philanthropic organization. The statistics tell us that over 500 of these will perish during the winter months, from November through March. They will expire from alcohol and weather-induced hypothermia, untreated illness and overdoses. No matter what the cause, they would be dead and more than likely buried in a pauper's graveyard without even a marker to indicate they have lived on this planet. It's tragic.
Speaker 2:Although I had worked with the homeless and poor before and have often seen the street corner beggars, like most of us, as I've trekked into downtown for business or pleasure, I remained very isolated from them. Such is the case for most Americans. Due to America's relative affluence, other parts of the world deal with this scenario of homelessness and poverty much more often than we do here in the States. Yet even in the richest of countries, we have all around us those who are cold and hungry and in need of physical and emotional help. Why am I, why are we so detached from them? Is it fear, laziness, selfishness, pride, apathy? Or is it that I have given up on them in much the same way they may have given up on themselves? Then it became personal.
Speaker 2:John Parnell was the first homeless person that I ever really knew. He was born in one of the most impoverished parts of northern Mississippi. Tunica County was the poorest country in America at that time. It was famous for Sugar Ditch, a creek that ran behind a long row of shacks without running water. Sugar Ditch was where they would urinate, since they had no plumbing. John, though a fourth-generation welfare recipient, had decided, amazingly, that he would rather work than collect a government check and sit on the porch all day while drinking malt liquor or Boone's Farm or maybe MD 2020, which, by the way, is very dangerous. So he worked as a temporary for a staffing company that I managed.
Speaker 2:I caught John sleeping in his car early one morning on payday. He had intended to wait before we arrived, but I went into the office quite early that day and found his car in the parking lot and him in the back seat. He sheepishly and embarrassingly admitted his circumstances but declared that he was about to get everything squared away. He had hope At least he was trying to have hope and he was about to get things squared away. He acknowledged that many personal mistakes had contributed to his circumstances, but believed that God is in the life-changing business, and I think John is right. Later he, due to his excellent performance on various assignments, was named Temp of the Year. I don't like the term temp, but that's what we called it then and celebrate a Thanksgiving luncheon with my entire staff. He appreciatively accepted the leftovers, calling them a week's worth of hearty and healthy eating.
Speaker 2:John left our company when he was hired on to a full-time position at the last client that we had assigned him to, but we saw John a few times more Over the next few months and years. John made several appearances at our office. It was always good to see him, by the way. First he stopped by to say that he had been promoted to management. He showed us the key to his new office to management. He showed us the key to his new office. Later, several months, he displayed a different key, one that granted him entrance into his rented apartment. Eventually, when he got a reliable vehicle, he sported yet another key and he glowed as he showed it off to the staff. Finally, he stopped by to proudly flash the door key to his new house, the first home he had ever owned.
Speaker 2:All I needed was a chance. I thank you guys for believing in me. He humbly confessed. All he needed was a chance. That thought resonates with me to this very day.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know it's so easy to think that all homeless people are that way due to poor choices, mental illness, addiction and willful rebellion. Though that might sometimes be the case, we do need to be careful about being so judgmental. Lest we be so presumptuous. We should be reminded that a man who influenced nearly all of human history, jesus of Nazareth, was himself homeless. And when we think of the problem of homelessness and those at the very bottom of the socioeconomic food chain, living in great need and with little hope, his words should ring true to us today.
Speaker 2:Great need and with little hope. His words should ring true to us today. Jesus said and my Father will answer them Truly I say to you, as you did it to the one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. So let's go and do good to those who are the least of these. There just might be another John Parnell in our lives to wake us up from our stupor and apathy, to show us that homelessness does not need to equate to hopelessness. Let's use our vocation to lift people up, to make their lives better, to at least give them a chance. Please be on high alert for opportunities to help turn hopelessness into hopefulness for the homeless. I'm Lyndon Woolf, and this is here for the Memories, I hope, as you look back over the course of your life and the way you have interacted with those who don't have a place to lay their head every night in a warm, comfortable place like you live in, and think what did I feel like? But, more importantly, what did I do? Until we meet again, keep your memories sacred.
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