Often life reminds me of how great a new beginning can feel. Sometimes it comes in the form of a new lease on life, and sometimes it comes in different forms such as a new job, relationship, or perhaps even a spiritual awakening that becomes such a vital part of your being that you can't imagine how you ever lived a single day without it.
Unfortunately not everyone waits for a new beginning because such a notion is lost to them. The light of hope has diminished in their lives. I refer to these people as the walking dead. They fill our streets and at times empty our humanity. Before the recession we would just ask the easy question, why can't these lazy bums just find jobs? It has been easy to dismiss there attempts to survive by panhandling by saying well their probably just going to use the money for drugs or alcohol and unfortunately in many, to many cases you would be right.
However we need to remember this one important thing and that is no matter how jaded and cynical we become there are those out there who do genuinely need our help, because they haven't given up hope yet. If this recession has taught us anything it's that poverty and homelessness can happen to anyone. Just because you get hustled by one, or hell even more than one poverty ridden soul who doesn't genuinely want money for food, but rather for substances that further serve to kill them, doesn't mean you should give up on hope as well. Don't allow yourself to give up on your hope that people can be saved. Don't become one of the walking dead.
