Simon was a bum, but a loveable bum. In the harsh neighborhoods he prowled pushing his shopping cart in search of bottles and cans, local gang members would smile and remember following him as kids and asking him what he was looking for. That of course is when he talked more and told them that he was looking for cans and bottles, and that one man's trash, was another man's treasure. He rarely said more then "Hello child!" And thank you and god bless you! Because even after they were grown, they helped him get bottles and cans by handing him the forty ounces they had just consumed or the Pepsi bottles that were lying in the back seat of their cars on the floor- boards. They told younger children in the neighborhood that tried to be mean to Simon to leave him alone and no other gang could make a bigger mistake then to come into their "Hood" and harm him.
Simon wore the same Army Jacket for as long as any of them who knew of him could remember.
No one knew where Simon really slept at night but it was rumored he slept under a bridge overpass.
No one knew Simon's real last name but they did know...
He was a Vietnam Veteran.
The Congressman of the city thought it was a great idea by his lower aids to insure his reelection, by pretending to pick from the audience three people at random. Three people that had already been coached what to say about what their concerns were, he also already had memorized his answers to show how much he cared about what their "Supposed concerns were...."
It wasn't the aids fault that Simon got picked to speak. The one that was supposed to be in the chair Simon sat in got a cell phone call that dealt with the tragedy of a loved one and didn't bother to tell anyone that she was leaving...
Simon was looking for empty bottles and cans and thought that a gathering of this magnitude would produce a virtual mother lode of them. He didn't have his cart, in truth he was casing the area to see what amount of cans and bottles might be discarded... And would then come back later with his cart when everyone had left the park.
People that knew Simon smiled in remembrance of the sweet soul he had always been.
People that didn't know him looked at him in disgust and showed with their eyes they wished he was in another world, other then their own, or at the very least, not in the same space they were currently occupying.
One of the disgusted ones told Simon he was blocking his view of the stage and the least he could do was sit down so others could see. Simon unknowingly but always kind and willing to oblige, sat in the chair the previously placed person was suppose to be in but had left vacant.
Simon had mistaken the mans rudeness for kindness, he was always thankful that who most people considered ruffians, would always help him in the search for bottles and cans when they could but he couldn't remember the last time anyone had said to him.
"Sit down, and join us!"
It brought tears to his eyes...
From the stage that had been constructed in the park the Congressman said with a practiced flourish of his arms. (It was in fact practiced in front of the mirror countless times, just as he had practiced kissing the damnable baby doll thing that was made of a plastic that seemed to leave the horrible smell of it on his lips for days)...
"I was greatly blessed by being able to serve this great city for a full term! I seek another term because I want you to know, that your concerns are my concerns! Your worries are my worries! What you desire is what I want, and I will be honored to again do it for the next few years if you will have me! I also want to prove that by asking three of you randomly picked what your most current concerns are! So I can answer those three concerns immediately!" But do know also, that if reelected, I will listen to future concerns from all of you in this great city and address them as well!!!
Cameras flashed...
The pre coached high school half Asian half American student girl came to the microphone, and voiced her concern about the drug problems.
His answer drew a thunderous applause from the crowd...
The pre coached white middle class looking American male, came to the microphone and voiced his concern about taxes...
Again, the crowd applauded and the Congressman tried to look humble after his response...
Then Simon came to the stage, and security was already asking questions because it was briefed that the one that would ask the last question was suppose to be a Hispanic woman.
They figured out the mistake too late.
Simon stepped to the microphone, and suddenly a feeling hit him who rarely said few words and the words poured...
This... Is what he said... "Hear me my brothers and sisters! Hear me my brethren! Hear me! My friends! I stand upon a mountain of sorrows... And words might fall like tears from my lips! But my eyes... Are eyes! That have witnessed more then perhaps... A single soul should have to bare!!! And these words come from a scarred and shattered spirit! But one... That still stands... I do not know when eternity... Will swallow my humanly body... But I seek to leave a part of me behind... That time cannot diminish... Space cannot effect... And ignorance cannot conceal!!! In short... Words... For all that man, as we know it... Can expect to know of immortality... Are gifts... Gifts that breathe of hope, pain, despair, compassion, Tenderness, forgivefulness, loneliness, and yes Love... The human body may die... But gifts that touch humanities soul... Are always remembered... And all note worthy gifts... Whether it be paintings... Poetry... Exceptional far-reaching thoughts captured That all should be able to share... Or song... Live on... Because god has touched it... And what god chooses to bless... Cannot be undone... But it can be corrupted by the wicked!!! To paint... Is to capture a moment... But a moment captured... That inspires only hate and covetousness... Is destructive to all who lay eyes upon it... To write poetry... That is dark and destructive... And teaches none who read it... A lesson that leads... To the betterment of their soul... Is a creation by one that seeks and delights... In planting weeds to strangle the flowers... In another souls garden... To capture and record great thinking... That is uncommon to the masses... And use it to feed... An under privileged country... And by doing so... Feed god's children... Is a blessed thing... To use the same thinking... To create a better weapon of mass destruction... And employ it against more of his children... Is work that is done... By cursed souls... And no man or woman no matter how long... They live on god's green earth... Yes, in the world he created... Is anything but a child to he... Who has no beginning... And he who has no end... And to sing songs that make... The very angels take leave of heaven... So they too might draw near... To hear them... Is soul stirring... And fruitful to the spirit... To sing songs... That increase an anger... And promote violent behavior... Or acts of hatred... On fellow humanity... Makes the demons flock... Those with black hearts... And already banished souls... Smile... I stand upon this mountain of sorrows... With no desire to seek immortality... But to explain to men and women that have ears to hear my words... There are but two gifts... The gift of the light... And the gift of the dark... In this complex and turbulent world... Where no one knows what to expect next... I only seek to make you who still have ears... To hear me... Aware... That there is still a choice... If you choose light... You will see the face of God... If you chose darkness... Remember whatever fate that awaits... In that darkness... Is one that will last for an eternity... There is still a choice... My brethren... There is still time To choose..."
The red faced Congressman, said, I don't understand the question Sir...
Cameras flashed...
Simon said...
Excuse me Sir?
"But I do not believe we have met, and I am just seeing how many cans and bottles might be left over after everyone leaves".
Security escorted him off the stage and as they were questioning him the gang members showed up and said that he was one of their own and if they didn't stop immediately, things were going to get real interesting...
One of the security guards cell phone rang and the voice from higher said with surveillance cameras they had picked out the insignias on his jacket, ran his picture and also discovered his identity and that prior to him being released from the military, he had been in a mental institution to recover from a really terrible battle that had occurred in the Me Kan Delta...
He may be crazy...
But the Congressman is probably not going to get reelected...
So simply release him...
Unknown to the security, the reason the man on the other end of the line really knew all this information was he was his former Commander...
They released Simon and the Gang members helped him pick up cans and bottles after all the stunned people had left the park...
The Bum...
Can still be seen occasionally walking with his shopping cart... Picking up bottles and cans...
And local neighborhood kids are still helping him, because he is really old now and doesn't see as good as before...
To find them...
Part two...
The ending to this story, all things are connected whether we can see it or not in gods universe...
Simon should have been given a hero's welcome when he returned from his third tour in the war.
Simon hadn't got shot, or stabbed or hit with shrapnel... He didn't leave a body part behind like an arm or a leg on foreign soil...
But in his time, he was a well seasoned, and accomplished warrior.
It was rumored he could shoot the eye out of a mosquito from the length of three football fields or some said four away...
It was said he could disappear into the land right before the most seeing eyes...
Simon was once ...
A sniper...
But he did leave something behind in the war besides a highly impressive body count...
His sanity...
After leaving the Veterans Administration Hospital that was shabbily run, and terribly under manned, it didn't help his recovery much that he got spit on and called baby killer by what Simon considered the "Haves"...
The "Haves" were given cars for birthday presents, went to the finest schools, and had all kinds of supposedly deep philosophical opinions that were worthy of further contemplation but had only been under god's great sky in the real world on camping trips...
They had never become the jungle and so undetectable that even the creatures that lived there, didn't know you were there...
But he continued to wear his "Colors" the old army fatigue jacket despite that because Simon didn't or couldn't break loyalty with those he had served with and some that had died in his very arms before his very eyes...
As he held them...
It wasn't in his eyes something...
That was right...
He had to maintain loyalty to all his comrades and especially those that had crossed over...
The only one's that showed Simon love, were the gangsters from the "Barrio".
Or more precisely, the "Have Nots"...
The woman that was suppose to ask the last practiced question got a cell phone call that her daughter had been hit and was in route to the nearest hospital...
A drunk driver had hit her...
Who had continued going on his merry way and was later caught...
He was the Congressman's son...
He was one of those people that in their own demented way thought...
He was doing the "Have Nots" a favor when he threw trash out the window of his car onto the face of mother earth, which sometimes included...
Bottles of Jack Daniels...
Simon had picked up more then his share of cans and bottles that were there because of people that shared this boy's same philosophy...
The girl that was also pregnant survived, and so did her child...
The boyfriend of the girl was in jail and in later years would commit suicide because he couldn't deal with the fact that now...
Some other man was being called Daddy... By his little girl...
He was in jail next to rapist and murderers, pedophiles and car thieves, and people that had ate human flesh because he had sold a little weed to help his then girlfriend up the social ladder by using that money to pay her way through dental school. He hadn't told her where the money was coming from until he couldn't deny it when he got caught.
But previously he had tried, really tried, and no respectable place would hire him...
He was one of the little children that use to follow Simon around and help him in his search for bottles and cans...
The Congressman's son that was caught, got a great lawyer and despite the fact the Congressman did lose the election...
With the best representation that money could buy, walked free without one day in jail and a really short probation period... To celebrate the victory he was bought another car by his father, the once Congressman, which he then drove without a license and continued to throw cans and bottles and cigarette butts and whatever fast food he had had the munchies for at the time, out the window of the car on the face of mother earth to help the "Have nots"
Until he wrapped the car around one of mother earths trees and made national news for dying...
When Simon heard the news that the boy of the man he didn't know, but had met briefly, on the stage he couldn't remember walking to...
Had died... Blaring over the radio at the Radio Shack as he passed by...
He fell upon the trash filled streets he was walking on, enroute to the local supermarket that had a recycling station...
And...
He wept...
At almost exactly the same moment, a gang member in another part of town said...
"This is fucked up Homes, this is really fucked up!"
Another gang member said...
"He had a good heart, he had a really good heart!"
Another gang member said...
"Remember that time he took that bullet for your dumb ass Rico down on Crenshaw?"
(They all laughed)... Another gang member said...
I remember that time he tried to join the Marines but couldn't get in cause his rap sheet was too long from fucking around with us....
Another gang member said...
With tears in his eyes...
"You know Homes, SA would have laid down his life for any of us standing here!"
Another gang member said...
I still remember when Homes use to make us follow him around picking up bottles and cans...
