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July 19, 2004
They made an old woman cry.
This weekend a group of people from my neighborhood – black and white and a few Mexicans too made an old woman cry. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sat in a chair on her front lawn and watched what these people did.
They didn’t leave one single part of her home untouched. Every room, the porch the garage, they did something to every part of the home. There were even people up on the roof.
They tore up the weed choked lawn, put paint all over, broke out cracked windows, and ran around like ants. All the while the woman wasn’t allowed into her home. The police came by, but these people did not stop. The rain didn’t stop them; the blowing wind through the old broken out windows in the garage didn’t stop them. Nothing stopped these people. It was nothing like I had ever seen before, sure you hear about these things but to see it in person, up close was simply amazing. I am ashamed to admit that I did just a little, nothing much to speak of really, just a bit, certainly no more than the other people did, much less than most of the others indeed.
The poor old woman just cried. You could see it in her face, the look of astonishment that people –many of whom she didn’t know could do something like this to her house, the house she has lived in for more than forty years, where she raised her family and where her husband died.
It was hard for her to speak, but when she did you could tell what this woman though about the people, how could anyone feel any other way about a group that would do this to her house.
Today if the weather improves they can finish painting the outside, after all with the remodeling done inside and the lawn and flowers outside, the only thing left is a few hours painting outside, then it will be, as the woman said “Just like when we moved in as a young couple.” Indeed, they made an old woman cry.
Posted by Matthew at July 19, 2004 08:20 AM