There was a light hail in Washington D.C. this afternoon, at least where I was, less than a mile from the White House. I was walking to get something to eat. I was fuming over the FISA votes--how could we have gotten to a place where Senators are voting to give up the rule of law and surrender our constitutional rights?
I walked past a church. I've seen it before--there's a sign saying Teddy Roosevelt worshiped there. There was a man taking shelter under the church's narrow overhang. I glanced at him and he said "can you get me some chicken noodle soup from the store?" I was taken aback and said "I'll try," as I walked past.
I immediately realized that I couldn't refuse this small request. It was easy for me to do this--and this guy was out in the cold, trying to stay dry. I got him a soup, a spoon, some napkins, and walked back to the church on my way back to work.
As I walked up to him I said, "sorry I was rude--you caught me off guard". He said "yeah, I could tell you were kind of in your ow zone there." He said "let me show you some credentials." I said "no, you don't need credentials," but he was alreday pulling out an ID from the Dept. of Veteran's Affairs. He thanked me several times as I left.
I don't want to be corny about this, but this all made me think. I thought of Bill O'Reilly's claim that there aren't any homeless vets--at least not sleeping under bridges. I thought about whether President Bush has ever even thought about homeless people living withing walking distance of the White House. I thought of whether the FISA vote has any impact on people who are trying to stay dry and get something to eat.
None of this means the FISA vote doesn't matter. It is a disgrace. But it doesn't mean we stop fighting--on everything.
I am also not patting myself on the back here in any way. I simply thought this was worth thinking about.