Thank you James!!

[sbre]

My bike commute to/from work includes the trails that run along Harbor Ave and West Marginal Way (WMW).
For several months “James” has been living along the WMW trail where it curves away from the road to circle around/behind a tractor-trailer parking lot.
In the beginning we would waive and say hello as I passed when he was ‘home’ or near-by. Eventually I stopped to chat, found out a some of his needs and would occasionally drop-off a few things to augment his life.  In return he would give me some ‘wine’ he made from fruit he collected in the area, which was actually pretty good!!
Last Friday I bought a stack of chocolate-chip cookies from a fund-raiser so stopped and gave him a couple on my way home, in parting I said “I’ll see you Monday” to which James replied “No you won’t, I’m heading out on Monday and won’t be around by the time you pass through in the evening. (My morning ride has be going by there before 6am while he was still asleep).
Sure enough, he and 98% of his belongings were gone last night, and much to my surprise, and enjoyment, the area was well cleaned and all that I could see was one full garbage bag and the remnants of an old vacuum cleaner. 
It appears James did a bang-up job in cleaning-up after himself, not leaving a big mess for others to have to take care of.
So this is a shout-out to James, wherever he may have landed, that I appreciate his integrity and commitment in taking care of ‘our space’ that he called home for a short while.
We read about and see the evidence of so many homeless and not-homeless who don’t clean-up after themselves, and this was one situation where the lazy route could have easily been taken, but instead a good man did the right thing.

Thank you James!!

• This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by sbre. Reason: proper grammer

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[miws]

sbre, Thank you for sharing this wonderful story. Much needed at this time.

Most of all, though, thank you for seeing James as the Human Being that he is, and interacting with him in such a positive manner.

I hope James was able to move into a more secure, safe, and warm living situation.

Mike

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[sbre]

You’re welcome Mike. We’re all in this same crazy mess together, it’s how we deal with it and one-another that makes us who we are.

This morning when I rode by I was able to confirm the entire site James occupied was well tended to, however since 7:30ish last night someone had strewn the contents of the plastic garbage bag all over the place. However the vacuum was no where to be seen.

The site still looks better than it could have, but not as good as it did.

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[miws]

I love your attitude, sbre. :-)

Mike

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[JoB]

We’re all in this crazy mess together..
yes we are :)

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