Contributed by Jim Rogers
Working with homeless and at-risk youth has more than its share of sad moments. It is the rare and elusive “happy” moments that leave us with a sense of peace, joy and deep satisfaction in our chosen profession.
Recently, I was at my desk entering data, when I began to observe one of our clients. He is normally quiet and sullen with anger; fear or frustration being his most common expression. He has had a rough life to be sure, one that escapes explanation but is told every day in his posture, demeanor and lack of joy in his life. On this day, this young man’s life was made better by warm cookies and milk.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church donated some cookies to be served with our daily “Supper Club”. Upon discovering the cookies, he asked if the café could heat some up for him. After they were warmed, he asked sheepishly if he could get a glass of milk to wash them down with. Watching the sheer enjoyment that these cookies brought to him was amazing. For a moment, he was at peace, grinning from ear to ear with excitement that was contagious to even the most jaded of us.
While cookies and milk doesn’t sound like much to most of us, to this man it was a moment in which he was not fighting to stay warm and dry, struggling against drug or alcohol abuse, or raging against the effects of a lifetime of abuse or neglect. It was a moment in which he could peacefully enjoy the goodness of warm cookies and milk and live in the moment.
