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With the fall season starting and temperatures dropping I decided to buy a bag of thick, warm socks as give aways to homeless men who live on the streets near my house. My plan is to offer two pairs of socks along with a ten dollar bill. I will do this frequently over the winter.
Yesterday I encountered a very nice homeless man and his dog “Little Man.” Though Little Man is a pit bull breed, he was extremely gentle, happy and well looked after including wearing a nice winter dog sweater. The homeless gentleman said I’d stopped to speak with him months earlier and had given him some money at that time, though I did not recall the visit.
As he indicated it had been months since I last saw him, I asked where he had been and the man told me he and his dog went to the Gulf of Mexico area, Padre Island. Asking how he managed to get himself and his dog there, he said: “I rode an electric bicycle with a two wheel child carrier behind me for Little Man.” He explained someone had given him a bike; that he search various dumpsters finding a carrier for Little Man and coming across a small electric motor which he somehow hooked up to his bicycle.
From Tulsa (Oklahoma) where I live to Padre Island (Texas) is 700 miles. He explained it “took a while” to get there but the two of them enjoyed the trip. I left that encounter deeply impressed and inspired by his ingenuity, commitment, and discipline to make the trip, using that mode of transportation.
The homeless man’s determination provides an exceptional example of this Buddhist wisdom from Daisaku Ikeda: “Even if you have the tendency to make a determination but only stick to it for two or three days, it is OK as long as you keep refreshing that determination.”
- Victor M. Parachin
(please feel free to re-produce and share this on your social media)
Yesterday I encountered a very nice homeless man and his dog “Little Man.” Though Little Man is a pit bull breed, he was extremely gentle, happy and well looked after including wearing a nice winter dog sweater. The homeless gentleman said I’d stopped to speak with him months earlier and had given him some money at that time, though I did not recall the visit.
As he indicated it had been months since I last saw him, I asked where he had been and the man told me he and his dog went to the Gulf of Mexico area, Padre Island. Asking how he managed to get himself and his dog there, he said: “I rode an electric bicycle with a two wheel child carrier behind me for Little Man.” He explained someone had given him a bike; that he search various dumpsters finding a carrier for Little Man and coming across a small electric motor which he somehow hooked up to his bicycle.
From Tulsa (Oklahoma) where I live to Padre Island (Texas) is 700 miles. He explained it “took a while” to get there but the two of them enjoyed the trip. I left that encounter deeply impressed and inspired by his ingenuity, commitment, and discipline to make the trip, using that mode of transportation.
The homeless man’s determination provides an exceptional example of this Buddhist wisdom from Daisaku Ikeda: “Even if you have the tendency to make a determination but only stick to it for two or three days, it is OK as long as you keep refreshing that determination.”
- Victor M. Parachin
(please feel free to re-produce and share this on your social media)
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