So thankful for what I have.

Alseep on a bench in a park
Originally uploaded by kc0lex (Matthew)

I went walking in a local park that has fountains last night to see if they were on so I could look at the possibility of doing some nighttime photos at that location. I took the long way to walk in and was scared when I found a homeless man sleeping on a bench next to where I was standing. After making sure he was breathing and just asleep and not dead I had a hard decision to make. Do I wake him up and make sure he is alright (other than the obvious lack of shelter) or let him sleep? I imagine it is hard to find a place to sleep and hard to get asleep, especially when on a hard bench in 40-45 degree farenheit weather and you are sleeping under an area light in a public park. I was also scared of how he might react to me standing over him waking him up at 11:30 P.M. He also appeared to be hispanic and I didn't know if he even spoke english.

You can see everything he had with him, his Wal-Mart bag to the right of him has what is probably all of his earthly possessions (no alcohol, I might add). We do have shelters in the area but I don't know if they would accept him (lack of room or maybe he is banned). We do have a program underway here in Wichita and Sedgwick County to end chronic homelessness. I am going to have to ask them some questions and see if I can find some resources that I could offer if I see him next time I go down.

I stood out by the edge of the river for a few minutes and said some prayers for this man in the cold. I would have just felt too quilty to go home and say them as I slid under the covers of my warm bed. Maybe I should go to the thrift store and buy some extra blankets every fall to pass out since if I am going to do urban nighttime photography.

Under the Mercy,

Matthew S