How a Homeless Teenager Taught A Great Life Lesson

To me, homelessness isn't something you are born into, its something you walk into. Either way each one usually isn't a choice, being born and being homeless that is.

About four years ago, I met a young man named Paul, he was my baby sitter's brother and we instantly became friends. He was a wild child with a lot of problems and a lot of baggage. His mother was a stroke victim at the early age of 32, resulting in her being a quadriplegic. This left Paul to help raise his sister, take care of his mom being an invalid and keeping the house going by fixing dinner and doing laundry. At 14, this wasn't the idea of a happy normal teenage life.

As Paul grew a little older, he rebelled, he quit school in the 10^th grade and constantly fought with his dad and his sister. Mainly because his Dad put his mom in a nursing home and Paul knew it wasn't right. Basically the home life was very rough so he left, he came back several times only to get kicked out and have the cops called on him by his dad and sister.

At 17, he bounced from house to house and in and out of jail for probation violations and tickets, he would always find a place to sleep by staying with friends and relatives for a little bit and bopping all over the place trying not to wear out his welcome, but they grew tired of having him around all the time. He tried to stay out of trouble but trouble followed him everywhere.

When I met him, I was instantly was drawn into helping him and being his friend. I watched him go from house to house and even had him staying with me for a while. My family could only stand so much and then they became furious that he couldn't hold down a decent job or find a place to live on his own. "For such a young man he should be doing something better for himself" they said.

It hurt me to send him out on the streets in the bitter Michigan cold. There were so many times I was on my way to work at 8 am and I would find him walking his daily 8 miles to town to fill out job applications and report to his probation officer. One day the snow was coming down so hard, that he couldn't see in front of him hardly and almost got hit.

When he didn't have a place to stay, he would stay in a large run down van on his dads property. His dad and sister never knew he was there. The vehicle didn't turn on so there was no heat. I would always drive out of my way every morning on my way to work to make sure he didn't freeze to death the night before, some nights it dipped down into single digits but he kept warm with his coat and a blanket and a few layers of clothing.

After a while it got too much for him to sleep out in the van so he wouldn't do it every night, only on the weekends. Instead he would sleep literally on a bench at the local park, but he would have to wait until after the park closed so security wouldn't kick him out.

I would try to meet him for lunch as often as I could to bring him it least one warm meal a day.

One time he spent the night in a cornfield, one of my daughter's friends had said she saw him from her school bus on a dirt back road and he walked into the cornfield with his blanket and laid down. That really broke my heart.

Until his mom died a couple of years ago, he would try to visit her everyday in the nursing home and spend as much time with her as possible when no one else would come to visit her but only once in a great while. I would go up when I had spare time and visit with them both, and listen to the stories they had to tell about their life together before she got sick. He would sometimes sleep there and take a nap and eat what she didn't want, but I think he enjoyed staying out of the elements too. She had a sink in her room and he was able to clean up there, if he didn't have a chance to anywhere else.

It was through them both I learned the true meaning of love and overcoming boundaries that so many others have to face. Even through his homelessness he was still able to give a great deal of love to his mom and his friends.

There were times through all this when he was homeless, that I needed a friend and just someone to talk to and he was always optimistic and always willing to listen, he was always non judgmental of me even though I had so much more than him and for that I'm grateful.

He has taught me the true meaning of friendship and that you can never give up on a friend or someone who loves you, no matter what and no matter where they are at in life.

No matter what the circumstances or rights or wrongs, Homelessness can strike any human. No one is immune to its disease, it can ravage your whole body, age you and even break your heart. Sometimes food for the soul is a better meal than a full belly of food.