The Man in the Cardboard Box

I was walking down the street one day when I noticed a man sitting inside a cardboard box. I caught myself staring at him and had to force my eyes away. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to him to make his life this miserable.

I had wondered what might go so horribly wrong in a person's life to make them have to live inside of a box that has become soaked with filth. I felt sorry for him. I wanted to help him.

I knew how the guy felt, I felt this way too. Being alone is scary and can sometimes leave you wanting it all to end. I wanted to help him so bad. I didn't know how to help him. I was becoming emotionally attached to someone that I had only glanced at for a mere minute.

I wanted the man to know that there was help out there for his problems and that if he would just give the world one more chance, then everything would be better. I felt great remorse and sorrow.

It was getting colder by the minute and here I was sitting in this warm car while he is sitting out in the nights cold air. I wanted to offer him shelter from the cold and to help him take back control of his life.

I couldn't take it anymore, I had to offer him something that would make his night a little easier. I reached into the back seat and grabbed one of the blankets that was in my car. I slowly walked over to his box and sat down beside him.

I told him that I didn't know his story and that it really wasn't any of my business. I wanted him to feel safer, I wanted him to be warm. I told him that he was going to end up catching pneumonia out here in the rain but all he could do between his chattering teeth was smile. He had a warm smile much like that of a child. He seemed harmless.

I seen a tear role down his face and his hands began to shake. He said that he was just passing through to go to his daughter's graduation. He has been hitchhiking for almost a week and he finally ran out of money. He said that he wasn't in his daughter's life much when she was growing up and thought that it was a great honor when she asked him to join her for her graduation. He said that he was trying to make it to New York where his daughter is and that he would walk his feet to the bones so that he could get there.

I only had fifty dollars on me but I gave it to him anyways. He promised to return it the next time that he was in Oklahoma. I had assumed that this would be the first and last time that I ever saw him.

It was almost a year later and I had already forgotten about that stranger in the cardboard box. I was on my way to the store when I see him. I verily recognized him. He was clean cut and in a suit and tie. I was in shock to have seen that same guy who had been so toppled with dirt that day.

He came up to me and gave me a big hug. He said that I changed his life and that he wanted to give me my money back. He said that he had almost given up that night and he didn't know what might have happened if I hadn't came over and spoke to him.

He made it to New York just in time for his daughter's graduation. He said that he couldn't stop thinking about everything that I had said. He had made a vow that night to never give up on life, to never take anything for granted, and that even when you are down, there is always someone out there who cares a great deal about you.

The man in the cardboard box's name was Jeremy Taylor. I haven't seen him sense that day but we still write each other. He remarried and is now the president over a small company.

I miss him everyday. He may not know it but his life wasn't the only one that was changed that night and as for me, well I am only writer and I will never forget that man in the cardboard box.