February 2007

A few weeks ago I ran into Bill and John. I should say that Bill ran into me—literally. Well, almost. I was standing on the corner of Chemeketa and Church talking with Mark Bulgin of Isaac’s Room/IKEbox. We felt a swoosh of wind on our right—a car blew by us on the sidewalk and missed us by six inches! It continued on across Chemeketa and plowed right into a light pole. Mark and I were the first to reach the luxury car—Mark on his cell phone dialing 911; me yanking on the door handle. There was an older man inside—Bill—his eyes glazed over. The doors were locked, and he couldn’t hit the switch despite my pleas. A big crowd gathered. Suddenly a ragged street teen—John—appeared and began pounding on the windows.

He was frantic; way more determined than I. John screamed for something to break the window; a flashlight appeared. John banged on the glass mercilessly, but to no avail. “It’s useless,” someone muttered. “No way!” said John, tears in his eyes. He said, “Let’s get some cops at the transit mall,” and we darted off, John beating me by a mile. We mustered three officers, who billy-clubbed the window and began CPR* as the ambulance pulled up. John stood there sobbing: “I could have done more!” Mark consoled him while it hit me that this young wanderer, 18 or 19, cared more about Bill than anyone else. Including me and Mark—“the ministry guys.” John’s hands were swollen, his cheeks tear-stained, his heart breaking for the well-dressed man in the Cadillac. It occurred to me that, on a normal day, if Bill and John passed each other on the sidewalk they’d likely have disdain for each other. “Slacker, get a job.” “Old creep, leave me alone.” And yet, when the chips were down and a life was on the line, the hard-scrabble kid came through. Unbridled compassion, sacrifice, and mourning . . . why was the scruffy teenager the most Christ-like figure on the crowded corner that afternoon? As I pass through the transit mall to attend my many meetings downtown, I never look at the street kids the same way again. Thank you John.
*By the way, Bill did make it!