Member-only story
I Learned Compassion the Hard Way,
by Being Homeless
I worked different posts as a security officer, and I spent a lot of time working
at places where the homeless like to gather and hang-out. One of my duties
was to run them off the property.
Often they would be drunk or high, but sometimes they were just assholes.
The high point of any shift for me was when I called the cops and had people
trespassed or arrested.
I had contempt for them, I made it my mission to get them arrested or
trespassed. I wasn’t always contemptuous, when I started I cut them slack
and I tried to help them.
I was talking to a St. Petersburg police officer, and he set me straight, after
my
attempt at being nice blew up in my face one afternoon. “ To them, kindness
is weakness.” His advise resonated with me. From then on, I called the cops
without hesitation.
A few years later, I had a stroke and wasn’t working, then my roommate, my
uncle passed away. He paid half the rent and half the utilility bills.
