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Playing Chess with Darts
Sometimes blessings come in surprising ways. Memorial day was a free day for me, and my only plan was to meet up with my friend Glenn from the shelter for a game of chess. This would be our second time getting together. The first time left me with two victories but "only because I was worried about making it to the Mission on time" he assured me. And I don't doubt him; they were close ones. We set up in advance to meet by the river at 11:30. I came close, around 11:45, so we set up beneath a glorious and powerful fan and opened up the chess box to behold-a bag of darts and some checkers, nothing more. Oops. Clearly, I was too afraid I'd lose and set up this clever "mistake," Glenn mused. I joked that we could use the darts in a competition and make targets out of tourists.
Well, instead of plotting over pieces, Glenn and I spent the afternoon telling stories about our lives while (alas) merely watching the tourists stroll by unharassed as the river glistened in the sun not too far beyond. It never occurred to me how hard holidays must be for our guests. The Mission where he normally goes was closed, so he would have no place to lay his head that night. In his eyes, holidays just made it that much easier to be harrassed and even arrested by police. Not exactly the lazy Monday that many people get to enjoy. So we sat there for a few hours and I listened to stories about his family, about his life both before being homeless and the many insights he's received in these last 12 years living in it. "It's the deepest hole, once you're in you can't get out," he told me. Homelessness, he tells me, compounds all other problems: the ability to secure a job and keep it, to avoid prison, to sustain relationships. And yet despite his struggles, he finds peace in being true to himself and trying his best to be a light to others he encounters even more oppressed by their condition. And he is determined never to give up on himself, or his sense of humor for that matter. If there's one thing about Glenn, it's that he never lacks for a joke, wisecrack or silly grin, even in his most serious of moments.
I'm sure Glenn and I will get around to a rematch someday soon, but for this special Memorial day, I'm kinda glad that I pulled out the darts instead.
Dan Thelen 2008-05-29
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