As I mentioned, we love Austin and are loving Texas.  And with any centrist population such as New York, Los Angeles, et al, there is something on the street corners of every off ramp – homeless people asking for ashtray change or dog food and/or prayers.

Now, I seriously knew very little about Texas and even much less about Austin.  Austin is quite a musical centre and even has a national cable show – Austin City Limits – about the local music.

There’s also the Austin Film Commission responsible for bringing in film and television producers to make their magic here in the heart of Texas.  The most current is the NBS television show Friday Night Lights – one of the few shows I try to catch when possible.

So, Austin is a hustling, bustling, college town, state capital and creative center.  With those kinds of credit come idealistic people.  Idealistic people in search of dreams.  And for better and for worse, those dreams sometimes crash and, as in LA and New York, Austin has more than it’s share of homeless pitched at nearly every off ramp.

The last time I saw so much dispair staring me down was when I lived in Pasadena/Los Angeles.  Not much has changed in 14 years – I still feel for any person who is struggling to grapple with life’s ups, downs, good hands and bad hands.  These people are not as different from you and me as you may think.  What they lack is a support system.  I don’t know about you, but my sister, brother, father, mother or frankly, any friend of mine would never spend a night begging on a street corner – not unless I was there with them.  If I had a roof, they’d have a roof.

In Pasadena, we took the church junior high group that I volunteered with to downtown LA where we stayed the night in a homeless shelter.  The next morning, we went out on the streets with $20 per group – I had in my group  a peer of mine and about 5-6 pre-teens.  We tought the kids how to make tough choices when it came to feeding ourselves and even purchased cheap trash bags to keep the downpour of rain off of us.  We then made our way to MacArthur Park when many drug-addicted homeless hang out.

With coffee and donuts in hand, we sought out a black man, probably in his 30s, and we sat down with him.  We spent roughly 30 minutes with him and the guy we started with was not the guy we ended with.  He was pretty high on cocaine when we sat down.  He was laughing at anything – me, the ground, the kids, the straw – anything.  And he was very candid and unguarded with us which left our young group of church-goers with their eyes wide open.

As it would turn out, he was from the Foothills in a suburb of Pasadena.  He also had a wife and child who had no idea where he was.  He wasn’t clear about the exact decision that led him away, but something shocked us – he was not only remorseful, but he took responsibility and confessed that what kept him from going back and, at the very least, letting them know where he was – was shame and pride.

As I said, we were all very different after this conversation.  The kids had a new understanding of homelessness and drug addiction.  They also had a new sense of vulnerability as this was a father and husband who lived just down the street from some of them.  He made mistakes.  But would he be strong enough to admit them to his family, take responsibility and ask, yes ask for forgiveness?  He was in tears when we left.  We gave him no money – just coffee and donuts.  Oh, and a little dose of unconditional love and attention.  He made us a promise that he would follow through on his desire to re-connect with his family – for better and for worse.

I made an attempt while living in Pasadena to either talk, feed or pray with the homeless on the corner ramp near my apartment.  I have no idea what impact, if any, that I’ve had on the handfuls of homeless that I’ve shared time with, but I do know what an impact they’ve made on me.  So, now that we’re in Austin, back in a setting of rampant homelessness, I have an idea.  I’ll share it in the next few days.

Author | Dave Darby

Dave Darby is a husband, father of 5, son, entrepreneur, speaker and well, a renaissance man who frequently needs to dump his brain on thoughts about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.