Lesson from The Can Lady

When I was in high school there wasn’t that much to do for excitement if you didn’t drink, get high, or break the law. I’m talking living on the edge excitement. Well, one thing that we found to do, I am not very proud of. In the Logan area in 1977-79 ish, there was a homeless lady that everyone called ‘the can lady.’ You would see her around the area with a big sack that she used to collect cans in. I’m sure that she turned these in to the recycling place for cash so she could have a little money to sustain herself with.
Well, on nights when we were bored with dragging main and wanted to do something else exciting, we would go in search of ‘the can lady’ and try to sneak up close to her and snap a picture of her. It is not like we thought that she might hurt us, it was just the adrenaline rush of getting into someone’s private space and stealing a picture.
She could usually be found in a park or public street looking for those inestimable cans. We’d take our little Kodak 110 $20.00 cameras and proceed with our investigative photography. We’d sneak close, snap a picture and then take off. We found that when we got close to her and saw her face that she resembled a deer. Obviously she had been in some kind of an accident and had somehow had her face deformed by fire or other life changing event. She always wore a scarf around her head so it was very difficult to see her deformed face. Thus the excitement of the mission.
We probably had five or six successful missions over a two year time frame. This was just a random Friday or Saturday night past time. On one particular evening, my view of the ‘can lady’ changed as I snuck up close on my prey, secured my picture, and proceeded to make my departure. It was when I was close enough to catch the view of a small watery glimmer running down her face, below her eye, that I realized that she had a tear on her face. She was a human being, not an animal to be stalked! Here I was a Young Woman of Excellence who Stands for Truth and Righteousness, a Child of God; torturing another of our Heavenly Father’s creations. I took a giant step backward! I was slapped in the face with my unkindly acts. How could I be so demeaning and cruel?
I ran back to the waiting getaway car, reported my findings and immediately felt repentant. How could I possibly make up for my actions? My only thought for the moment was to go and give her something and ask for forgiveness. I took the few dollars that I had for my late night slurpee run and took the long, uneasy walk back to my fellow ‘sister’, the can lady. I spoke to her back and told her that I was sorry and dropped my small token of penance and left a changed person, never to harass a less fortunate person again.
Last night I attended the movie “The Soloist.” It is the true story of a homeless man in downtown LA. He was a gifted musician who happened to be plagued with mental illness. The movie was very powerful and again reminded me that all these people are children of God.
The lesson to be learned is to never judge another human being. Reach out with a lifting hand to all. Yes, they may take your small donation and go buy liquor or they may be able to buy a hot sandwich off the value menu and receive a small sustenance that will help them face another lonely day.