I have to write about this because if I don't the feeling is going to eat me whole.I can honestly say I am still stunned and has many mixed emotions about seeing a classmate of mine at Safeway on Fruitvale Avenue today to whom I was once close to strung out on the street selling her body. I think she was ashamed that I approached and hugged her because I am sure many have criticized her on why she is out on the street but if she would know in my mind I didn't care what she looked or smelled like because in my mind she is still a human being so who am I to judge her or her circumstances. She couldn't look me in the eyes when I was talking to her. I told her to take care of herself and she walked away in seconds.
. This was a girl I semi-envied because she had two hardworking parents and traveled to many places in her young life. From the looks from an outsider looking in she had what I thought was a great upbringing and very church oriented. Today to see her life in a shamble like this just makes you wonder, how could this happen? But in reality, these things do happen because sometimes when families give their children too much and they don't perform or
meet their parents
expectations these things happens. In order to prove to others that they can fit in they seem to be more attracted to the crowd that it totally different from their upbringing which consist of morals and values that were set by their parents. I'm not mentioning her name but I could tell you one thing she was able to get whatever she desired and I never heard her parents ever tell her "NO" even when she did something bad or even acted up in school she could play her parents like a fiddle. She was the youngest out of her siblings like myself. She always had the latest shoes and wore her hair long with china bangs which was becoming to the shape of her face.
I remember I met her in 5th grade she was sort of an extrovert, but sort of a brat too sometimes when she couldn't get her way. She and I became friends instantly, because we liked to play all kinds of sports from kickball, basketball, and running just for fun even though she would always beat me just by an inch. There were many instances where she and I bumped heads and had arguments over silly things but there was one incident where she spit in my lunch because I wouldn't give her a piece of my sandwich and I damn near beat the hell out of her by pounding on the top of her head and didn't not know she had a heart condition because at that time I didn't care because she did one the most disgusting thing you could ever do to a person especially, when it comes to their food. I eventually, apologized for my actions because my intentions wasn't to go all crazy like that but to let her know I'm not the one to mess with.
It is true, when you whoop somebody's ass they won't forget you because when we reunited at Skyline that's what she talked about was our fight we had in elementary school.
But to see her today, it made me forget all the negative things she had ever said or done to me in the past because I was always taught we should forgive and not hold on to the past but, have compassion because we are all one foot away from being in her situation of being out on the street. If you see someone you know or don't really know, reach out and give them some "HOPE" by saying a kind word to them because we are living in a society where we don't take the time to absorb everything that is in our surroundings because we are constantly, being selfish without knowing it. We are put on Earth to serve a purpose in some kind of way even when we don't know what it is. We are each others tool. We are no better than each other, so we sometimes have to put our egos aside and become a true human being that has love, understanding, and compassion,. I made my peace by reaching out and not acting like I didn't know her because any other day I would had done that, but I am glad that I didn't. I feel better now.
