boundless compassion, by Kendra

i wanted to share a story about one of our guests at MFP.to respect him & his personal life, i will change his name.jimmy is a regular at MFP. always one of the first to line up outside of our gate for afternoon services.23 years old, been without a home & living on the streets for 5 years or so.truly a polite & respectful guy (which we don’t see too often),rarely causing trouble on the dayfloor & always up to chat.i connect with jimmy day one of work & we start talking about life.my life; his.he tells me (a number of years ago) that he’s been hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat & had some brain damage.still suffers from memory loss.unable to work & is in the process of collecting SSI.jimmy’s daily life is something unimaginable for me.the things he sees & feels.we talk abut him feeling like a reject, a loser, a failure.how people pass him on hollywood boulevard & think, what a waste of a person.when he collects SSI for the month, he gives what he can to his homeless friends.many of them older; he respects the elderly who just can’t seem to get themselves out of a rut.much of our time together, i’m a listener.jimmy might be one of the strongest people i’ve ever met, who has more value in this world than he will ever know; because he was made in the image of God & is loved.as he was leaving today; i left him with this, “not everyone in society thinks you’re a waste.not everyone walks by you & thinks you’re a worthless piece of crap.you’re a reminder for me to be kind.you’re one of the least selfish people i know.be safe & know that there is one person in this world who cares about you.” MFP is full of jimmys; young people who feel absolutely worthless in this world.

compassion is not about the healer & the wounded.it’s a covenant between equals.al sharpton always says, “we’re all created equal, but we don’t all end up equal.”