THE GRAY LADY
For the last couple of years I have seen this homeless woman on a regular basis. Rain or shine, hot or cold, I see her walking around carrying all her possessions in two or three paper bags with handles.
She looks to be in her forties, but there is an Asian cast to her features that may disguise her age. She is short with gray hair. Her person is well maintained. She doesn’t smell and her clothes always seem clean.
I have never attempted to communicate with her. The times that I have walked past her and gotten close enough to say "Hello," I have encountered a "nobody in here" look in her eyes that discourages communication.
The frequency with which she appears at random moments in my life troubles me. Is there a message here? Am I missing something? Twenty years ago I would have acted on my curiosity and engaged her, somehow. Now . . . I am hesitant. Whether this is a sign of the wisdom that supposedly comes with age or the timidity that I know for sure comes with age, I can't be sure.
Lately, whenever I see her I think of the song "One of Us" by Joan Osborne. The reprise goes "What if God was one of us . . . just a strange on the bus?" Tell you what, if that song contains any truth and God is one of us, I know who it will be.
March 27, 2010
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