had a really odd day today,
it was a sweltering 80 degrees in our beach town (which only happens in sept/oct and january, oddly enough) and we had a guest artist arrive (click here to check out Ryan Rogers).... while i was doing the morning cleaning, there were some folks who showed up early to ask some questions....one of them was a fella who got jumped real bad a few months ago and ended up in our parking lot coughing up blood, we called an ambulance and cleaned him up a little bit while the paramedics were in route... apparently when he woke up in the hospital, the attending staff had illustrated to him the proximity of himself to 'the other side' the night before. he almost died from blood loss. judging from the amount of blood we found, i'd say that's the skinny on it....
he (and his social worker) asked if we removed tattoos (we don't) and i sent them to the county to see about gang tattoo removal programs (cause the tattoos he had were gang-related and on his face and hands, making a job search REALLY hard)....as we were saying our goodbyes, he explained to me that growing up in jail and in the hood, he was always taught (and thought) that white people were jerks that don't give a shit about you... he thanked me for saving his life and showing him that people are just people regardless of your color or lack thereof. if that wasn't cool enough, he told me that i was a 'hero man, really a hero'....that was a profound first.... i don't feel like a hero for being a decent, caring human, but if that inspires someone to a better life, i think that's pretty great...
