A Thanksgiving Story

Written in the December 2006 update from my time in Camden, NJ.
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It was the day before Thanksgiving, and Brent (my housemate) was busy working at his morning site, a housing and community development organization. In the course of the morning, a bedraggled looking man came to the door looking to speak with someone who wasn’t there. In an effort to help in any way he could, Brent struck up a conversation with the man, and before
long, he had offered him a spare turkey that we happened to know was available in the Urban Promise fridge. When Brent asked the man his name, he was surprised to hear that he was David Collins – the same guy who had come to our house several times back in September asking for food and whose medical card we were holding as collateral for $5 that he never returned to repay! Even more determined to give David another chance, Brent agreed to meet him when he got off work so they could walk together to pick up the turkey.

David never showed up. Brent came home by himself, and just when we had resolved that the turkey would never have a home, David appeared on our doorstep, and we invited him inside. A self-proclaimed “bum,” he proceeded to explain to us why he had never returned for his medical card two months before. He’d been in and out of jail several times for failing to pay tickets he’d received: one for loitering, one for drinking in public (he claims his beer can was unopened), and one for walking through a drug zone (what part of Camden isn’t a drug zone?!!).

It’s an interesting cycle: he couldn’t pay the tickets, so he spent time in jail. While in jail, he was unable to work and thus lost his job. In general, he has trouble getting work because he has a disability and cannot stand for long periods. He gets welfare for his disability, but it stipulates that he cannot work for more than about 2 hours a day. The welfare and a 2-hour-a-day job are not enough to support his wife and kids, so he actually has to pretend to be separated from his wife and live in a seperate house so she can get single parent welfare, too.

David is a man of faith. He is honest, trusting, authentic, talented, educated, athletic, and caring. He is doing his best not only to get by, but to live a life that is glorifying to God. Sure, he has made his share of mistakes. But he forced me to ask myself, how much is his sad situation a result of his decisions and character, and how much of it is the result of being trapped in an injust system? In the words of Martin Luther King, “Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime. Eventually, though, you’ll want to start asking yourself who owns the pond.”

After a long and enlightening talk, Brent, Megan and I walked David and his turkey home to his house. He had told us the truth. Let’s just say I was feeling pretty blessed this Thanksgiving by a so-called bum!