Today I was working in San Luis Obispo and happened to hear and see a young man calling out for someone to smile at him. He was homeless and spiritually lost. I asked him his name and he said it was tattooed on his face. I noticed the tattoo read "Bull Shit". I asked him why he felt that way and he began to tell about being "on his own" of his home in New Orleans when he was sixteen and he's been wondering around since then. He feels that life has nothing to offer him anymore and he wants to die before he's thirty.
I began to encourage him and tell him that all the hurts people have inflicted upon him can be overcome by changing his thinking. I told that I have been going through a major change in my thinking and have been able to overcome many past hurts I felt. I told him that I believe in him and that he can make a change in his life and lead others to freedom too. He told me that no one has ever said anything like that to him in his whole life. He and I walked down the block talking, until we had to go our separate ways. When I was about half a block away he called out "Hey", I turn around and he yelled "keep your chin up" and gestured the same by using his hand to lift up his chin.
I've attended some of the Doug Addision training seminars and strongly believe we have opportunities to encourage others we know or don't know each day if we look and listen. Our children will stop and listen to us if we stop and listen to them. They are struggling today with the pressures of limiting beliefs and false accusations people have labeled them. They can be reached with our love and caring.
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