His Story

Today I was walking on the sidewalk by my university's baseball field outside the right outfield. I was not paying any attention to the game going on, but my attention was taken by a man struggling to get a good view of the game. I found it odd that he would have chosen this view for watching the game. On this sidewalk, which is street side, there is a large net for blocking balls hit out of the park and a couple of buildings on the side for the baseball players that impair the view for anyone watching from this side. The bleachers are on the next to home plate and only a moments walk away from the position the man occupies. But when I look at him a bit more closely, it makes sense why he does not dare enter the campus property, and stays looking from this poor viewing area. Most campuses don't particularly like having homeless people on their campus "disturbing the peace", and though this man probably wouldn't do much more than enjoy the game with a closer view, his look of homelessness unfortunately would raise questions from people, and from the insecurities of people, the security of the campus would more than likely be called upon to remove the man. So as a child looking at a candy store from the outside window, he stared looking to see what pitch the pitcher would throw next, and if the batter was able to figure it out in time to hit it into the outfield so he could safely get on bade. Unfortunately for the batter, it went foul.

I stared awkwardly at the man for a little bit wondering what his story was. What events happened to him that led to him looking like he did? Was he homeless? Why was he interested in the game that was going on? Maybe there was a relative on the field and he was trying to get a glimpse of them on the field. Does he have a passion for baseball? Maybe he once played for a team and had an injury that disabled him from playing another game making him lose his scholarship, which made unable to pay for his university, which led to him not being able get an education to move forward, which then led to him losing what life he had left. All these small stories rush into my head, making me think too much about this man's former life. I said a quick prayer for him, but I felt as if that was not enough for this man. I want to know more about him who he was, is what he did, and now doing, but I keep walking.

In a world where everyone has their ears plugged with the music of their choice, and eyes consumed with the phone in hand it easy not to see those around us. Its easy not to get to know the life that is next to us. We could be missing out on a story of a man or woman that is more tragic, entertaining, dramatic, heart wrenching or romantic than any book or movie could ever be. But instead we keep walking, sometimes without noticing. I think if I had a second chance, I would like to think that I would stop and talk to this man, because when I'm older and filled with years I want someone to listen to my stories.