Awesome Compassion Story

The Charter for Compassion

The Charter for Compassion Committee is one of the most engaged ministries in our church community at present. Their big focus right now: Getting Charleston to become a City of Compassion!

Stay tuned for further activities. 

Please email your stories of compassion at work to mamie....  

This Week's Story

Hi Mamie, Great compassion shown by this friend of mine with homeless man...Ron Alexander

 By Tom Nadeau

This man...

On my way to do my day's errands this morning I was stopped at a red light and there was another familiar homeless man standing on the center island curbing of the intersection hoping for the folks in the line of cars I was in to stop and help him with his daily needs. He is a slightly built, short, Filipino man about forty to fifty years old. I have spoken to him in the past and I sense he is mentally impaired, probably from a stroke. His condition does not seem to be that of the classic "wet-brain" you might find among some of the homeless who perhaps abused drugs or alcohol. No this man, is probably not from that experience. He seems to favor one side of his body which is typical of many stroke victims.

When I see him there is an unmistakable aura of humility and gratitude mixed with a little shame as his eyes are almost always cast downward seemingly afraid to make eye contact and yet enigmatically his lips pursed with a slight smile as if he was saying to any who would hear, 'I know I must look a sight but deep down I'm kind of happy!' He is always grateful when a donation is made, he lights up like a star at night, eyes burgeoning with the moisture of deep joy. I don't always give but when I do, the reaction is always the same from him.

Today, the wait at the light was unusually long...or so it seemed. He caught my eye and my attention as I studied his familiar shuffle from his perch by the traffic sign, his home away from home. There he was staring and smiling at the ground, occasionally looking up to make momentary eye contact afraid, it seemed to look too closely and for too long out of fear he may scare or anger someone...or possibly see the look of contempt that so many, no doubt, may feel for him. I began to ponder non-duality at that moment and I saw me with another face, another experience, another life. Something within me stirred deep, deep down. I felt my eyes glaze over with affection for this man...I was moved to give him something.

I lowered my window and gave him a ten and he graciously took it and whispered "merry Christmas" briefly making eye contact. And there it was, that look of utter joy in his face as if he had just won the lottery. That look that exposed the deep crows feet at the corners of his eyes that proved this man has spent a lifetime smiling. He stopped and stared at the currency in his hand and that familiar smile lit my heart on fire with utter love for him.

Did I just say "love"? Yes, he made me feel it so deeply that I just had to run home and share it with the world. But it was not pity and I will argue this to the day I die...it was definitely not pity, it was love in it's purest form. My eyes are still wet with the emotion of that breathless moment where I made an absolute unmistakable connection with a total stranger.

Thank you to the little Filipino man from Mira Mesa, my teacher...this man who made me feel love today.