Oliver Gold came riding his bicycle by my house yesterday afternoon. He said he was doing fine. This is a good thing. If you remember he was a homeless man I have written about who was at one time living out of a cardboard box. Now he has a job, and apartment and has even settled his financial difficulties with his ex-wife. He seems to be on the road to recovery.
“I haven’t had a drink in three months. I have made new friends at my work and things seem to be going well,” he said as we stood and talked for a brief moment. “Don’t know what the future holds, but right now it seems to be going in a good direction.”
I am glad for Oliver. He was one of hundreds, if not thousands who have been displaced in our economic downturn. But he somehow, with the help of others, found a way back up. Had a chance to catch his breath and move on. He even had a new hearing in front of a different judge who slammed the old judge for being totally insensitive and out of touch with reality. I love it when one judge pokes at another. Sorry ladies, but I found the female judge and her decisions to be totally insensitive to the plight that had befallen Oliver and she showed no mercy whatsoever. Now she has tasted a bit of her own medicine. Touché.
None of that, other than the outcome, seems to affect Oliver. He is just happy to have a job to go to and a home over his head to come home to at the end of the day. I asked him about his long-range plans and he said he would like to visit the Grand Canyon some day. I asked why that particular place and he explained that when he was at his lowest he had ripped a picture out of a National Geographic Magazine of the great hole and kept it in his pocket. “It reminded me things could be a lot worse.”
“How did the Grand Canyon remind you of that?’ I asked, not following his logic.
“That’s a deep crevice in the ground. Yet, with hard work, you can climb out of it. It is not impossible.”
That is a great philosophy about life for all of us. The Grand Canyon philosophy by Oliver Gold. Think things are bad, just remember, the hole you are in can be climbed out of. It is not impossible.
I always like seeing Oliver. He brightens my day and makes me realize that goodness of people can still shine through all the crap in this world. Someone had given him a really cool bicycle. I had two in my garage; I wish I had thought of that. Next time!
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