A man drops a twenty-dollar bill on the ground unknowingly. Someone behind him picks it up and buys what he needs with it. Probably food or a cheap hotel for the night.
Someone throws away a pair of shoes that are in good condition, into the trash. A person who is unfortunately homeless without any good shoes at all may come along and use those shoes as a blessing.
That happened to me. I used to get off the PATH train at the World Trade Center, where I would see a well-dressed man of Caribbean descent. I was wearing a pair of raggedy sneakers that were five years old. One day he asked me, “What size shoes do you wear?” I said, “Size eleven.” I have big feet. A few days later he saw me and handed me a pair of light brown work boots. “Here you are,” is all he said. They weren’t new, but they fit perfectly. Then he was gone. I thought he was an angel.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
By Nelson Blackman
