I heard about him first in the r&r section of craigslist. His picture was there along with some text that was not too flattering. His hair was long, he was unshaven and he was obviously homeless. He was the focus of immature people who were lucky enough to have a better life than he did. His name and picture came up quite often for a few weeks, then the attention span moved on to another important topic, probably about urine, or people with challenges, you know how it goes….

On my lunch break one day I was turning into a local burger place, and there he sat just like his pictures. His pants were ripped halfway up his thigh and his jacket looked like it had seen some muddy times. I had not read of him panhandling, and he was not begging now. What he was doing was sitting on the curb at a corner and sticking his legs out as far as he could so vehicles turning right had to swerve out to miss running over his legs. I thought that was pretty dangerous considering, but he obviously was practiced at this.

I know how fortunate I am not to be homeless, and I usually will give some money to homeless people when I have some extra cash. Today I was in the mood to help this guy out. As I left I went out the exit he was sitting at and I dropped a twenty out the window and told him it was for him, and good luck. He thanked me with enthusiasm, and started walking to the burger shop as I slowly made my way through traffic.

I did not see him for another week. There was a man talking to him as I walked up. The man started walking away as I walked up and told me he offered to buy the guy some clothes, but he refused. As I walked up to him, he smiled and asked, wasn’t I the guy that gave him money last week? He introduced himself as Kurt and asked my name. We talked for a few minutes and I gave him a five. Kurt thanked me, and said he had something for me in return. He dug around in his jacket pockets for a few minute and took out a small stone.

Kurt told me he knew something about rocks and precious stones. Kurt continued, if I took this rock and had it cut and polished, and set in a gold ring, it would be worth a few thousand dollars. As I looked at it, it looked like some type of basalt, but Kurt was serious. He reiterated how the stone should be cut, polished and mounted. I had to get back to work. I left Kurt on the curb trying to get enough money to eat on.

I mentioned him around work to people I know, and one of the guys spoke up. He said he had talked to Kurt at some length before. Kurt was anti technology and wanted to live as people lived before electricity and other comforts that make life what it is. He told me as far as he could tell there was nothing wrong with Kurt, he was homeless by choice, not circumstance. I thought this was interesting, and it explained why he wasn’t flat out begging, and refused to accept the offer of new clothes, preferring his ragged apparel instead.

I saw Kurt two more times, one week apart. He was not looking for me, but each time I gave him some money, and he gave me a stone with precise instructions on how it should be polished and mounted. I always thanked him for the stone. I did not think much of it at the time, but later this thought occurred to me:

I was given a lesson in character from a homeless guy! Kurt was giving me something back for what he received! What a concept that was, payback from a person with virtually nothing! If only more people could appreciate what they have received, and try to give something back. What a much better place the world would be then!

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