"for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven"

Tonight, at bedtime, Daniel made an unusual comment, seemingly out of the blue.  I think he and Ian were talking about how many more days remained until Christmas, but suddenly Daniel introduced a remote character into the subject, saying, "I hope that guy doesn't have an awful Christmas... that poor guy..."  Oddly, I think I almost immediately knew who he was talking about, and with a few phrases of identification, it became clear:  Daniel was thinking about a homeless man that he, Ian and I saw in downtown Boston about a year ago.

It was either Winter or very close to Winter, and certainly pretty cold outside, and we were walking from Chinatown toward South Station, down Summer Street, and suddenly I realized that the boys weren't with me.  I hurried back half a block to find the two of them standing right in front of a man who was sleeping on a bench, both staring almost in a trance.  The man was covered in something to keep him warm - mostly newspapers, if I recall - and even his head was covered, so you only saw a long body stretched out under some makeshift covers, but he had a sign asking for money and a cup or can on the ground to collect it.  Needless to say, both boys asked me for money.  It was such a moving, and educational experience (for me), that I immediately blogged it at the time.  I was especially moved by Daniel's comment after seeing the man;  Daniel thought we were still in Chinatown, although we were many blocks past that neighborhood, and he commented, "This is not a very nice China."

In any case, I wasn't at all surprised that Daniel mentioned the man again tonight, even though he only saw him once, and about a year ago.  I think he and perhaps Ian have mentioned him since that evening, and Daniel didn't have to provide much detail for me to figure out who he was referring to.

But I was surprised, and moved, that he thought of him in the context of Christmas.  Here Daniel and Ian were thinking about how great Christmas is (the subject comes up from time to time, let's just say), and then Daniel thought about the most unfortunate person he had ever seen, and thought about what Christmas particularly for that one homeless man, sleeping on a bench in Boston.

(December 4, 2012)