Comments on: thank you, elder holland

By: Jody

Jody — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:06:00 +0000

I don't want to ruin all lesson learning, good feelings from this post but I have kind of a funny story that relates:

A friend was standing outside a hotdog place in Los Angeles (just finished with a temple session) and a homeless man came up to him and asked for some spare change. Our friend, not knowing where the money would go offered to buy him a hotdog instead. The homeless man said, "Oh, I'm a vegetarian." And without missing a beat our friend said, "Well, beggers can't be choosers." The guy got totally offended and stormed off!

Only in L.A.!

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:12:00 +0000

This reminds me of when I was a missionary in Spain and wanted so badly to be magnanimous toward the addicted homeless guys that would see us coming from a mile away. There just isn’t an easy answer to the quandary that they presented to us–especially with the meager stipend we got each month. Luckily, we’ve all been instructed to not judge who deserves alms and who doesn’t, but to just give what we can to those who ask. I didn’t understand that really well until spending four years in downtown DC and downtown Philly.

By: c jane

c jane — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 04:19:00 +0000

Dave this diatribe post just made me have a huge lump in my throat. What is this feeling? Humility or something?

Meanwhile, good post. Hope to meet you sometime.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:48:00 +0000

Wonderful post – wonderful feeling after reading it – I want to copy and paste it into my “life lessons” folder. Thanks, Dave!

By: Brooke

Brooke — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:29:00 +0000

i find that they also really enjoy candy bars. that’s what i usually give– or whatever’s in my bag– because i never have cash either.

and if they’re wearing some sort of team hat if you say, “go (insert team name here)!” they get very excited.

i’m glad it was a good day.

By: the mccoy's

the mccoy's — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:44:00 +0000

seriously. i do that all the time, and i shouldn’t judge. i heard once to give out mcdonalds money. that way, they can always get something to eat. what’s worse for me, is when they ask me for money, i fear they are judging me. when they see me walking our of the grocery store, or target, and they ask for cash, i seriously NEVER have cash. i use my debit for everything. so here i come out with cartloads of crap, and i have nothing for them? i want to ask, what they need, and then i get all scared and fear for my life and run or walk away real fast. if i have it, i will give it. especially when brandon is with me.

By: Mom K

Mom K — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 08:14:00 +0000

Dave, I love this post. It’s funny how sometimes lessons we learn actually come from inside our own head or heart with just a little tug from someone else.