His hair blew in the wind as he cussed at those who walked by. One woman flipped him off as she stumbled past him after what looked to be a day of drinking for her and a friend. Another woman nearly walked into the street to avoid close contact with him. It was as if they feared him like one would have feared the Bubonic Plague between the years of 1000 and 1352. During those years, 340 million people died of the plague (The Black Death).
However, I knew him and knew that he was not going to harm anyone. I walked up to him while sitting down and quietly asked, “How are you today?” He smiled, “I’m good, how are you?” His attitude changed drastically as we talked and he calmed down as if everything was perfectly fine.
“Have you seen your friend Kristin lately,” I asked him knowing that she talks to him whenever she is in town. “She was here a couple of weeks ago, but she moved away,” he told me. He then started talking about her and the pictures she took of him while under the bridge where he goes weekly for food and a warm meal thanks to the Nashville Bridge Ministry.
Kristin is one of the many volunteers who have helped to make The Bridge Ministry a success in Nashville, TN. Those who volunteer meet under the Jefferson Street Bridge on Tuesday evenings.
“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” - Mother Teresa
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