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Dealing out a little hope

　　The young man at the local gas station is quick with a joke and knows his customers by name．He's the kind of guy who will take a day off without pay in order to appear as a witness to a traffic accident．He's my son．

　　One day, less than a week after the place had been broken into overnight, the store was suddenly invaded(闯入)by three people grabbing food off the shelves．He hit the “panic button”(按钮)and then went over the counter and locked the front door．It was obvious they were homeless．

　　Imagine what they must have felt like when, instead of being told they were headed for prison, they were told they didn't have to steal if they were that hungry．“ We have food in the back, expired(过期的)but still safe to eat, that we plan on giving to a homeless shelter…”．

　　They were told to pick up what they had dropped and put it back, then asked to straighten out the mess they'd made of the store．They were doing just that when the police arrived．The officers were told the situation was under control and the police were no longer necessary．

　　This wasn't what they had expected．They were being treated as human beings who had screwed up(搞砸)but could right the wrong they'd done．Shocked, because they knew that the homeless were never welcome to use “public restrooms” in private businesses, they quickly followed orders to take turns and use the restroom to clean up．

　　Soon three cleaner people, standing just a bit taller than before when they came in, walked out with all the food their arms could hold．They were reminded that, if they needed to come back again, they were to ask and not just grab．

　　That day, when it would have been so much easier just to hand the three people over to the police and be done with it, my son gave them something they were in desperate need of－a small amount of self-respect and a little bit of hope．