What I Saw Earlier This Week

The last week here in DC, the temperatures have been very high. 90˚-96˚ in real temps pushing the Heat Indexed temps with the humidity to 98˚-105˚. From the time you open your door in the morning, you know, it's gonna be HOT. All week I have been attending trainings and working. My commute has taken me down University Boulevard inside the Beltway past a lovely little park called New Hampshire Estates Park. It's in a neighborhood where crime is more possible than others around it. At 7 am it's just a park.

On Tuesday while waiting in a long line of traffic on this 6 lane wide thoroughfare, I happen to glance into the park and noticed an older black man sitting on a bench. He was dressed in rags. I mean honest to goodness a tattered shirt and pants that looked like they'd been coated in used motor oil before he donned them. His feet were bare and covered in callouses. His hair was mostly white, and so matted down that I recalled the image from "The Color Purple" of Celie trying to comb out the little girl's hair without making Mister mad. Remember that? I took all of this in in the space of a minute and then the light changed, and I continued on my way.

The very next day, Wednesday, I was in the same place, waiting for the same light to change. I looked to the park and the homeless man was slouched on the same bench in the same manner and condition.

Then suddenly the door on the Electric Utilities Truck to my left opened and a young Hispanic man jump out. He was holding a frosty cold plastic bottle of water. He dashed over the old black man on the bench and nudged his shoulder. When the man looked up, he handed him the bottle of water and said something briefly to him--I don't know what. The light changed and he ran back to the truck. I didn't move so he could reach the truck safely. I didn't move because I was so profoundly touched by his act of kindness.