Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A few hundred serious words...

I heard today about the Homeless World Cup…an international soccer tournament, where teams are made up entirely of homeless people.

It jogged my memory of a guy I knew a few years ago.

He got overwhelmed and just dropped out of “normal” life. One day he was living a “normal” life with a wife and kids…the next he was gone. After a while he wasn’t earning a living (by choice…he was quite employable) and he just took to the streets.

For him, life was too tough and just running away was the option he took.

To operate in the “normal” world, you have to pay rent or the mortgage…most places you need a car…there’s needing the right clothes and the right look to keep up with the times. It’s not a joke that you don’t have to worry about the cable bill or your retirement or the balance in your checkbook if you just decide to quit.

He just snapped and couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want to work at life (and have the worry that goes with it) and he decided things would be better for everyone (but mostly himself) if he dropped out. It was mostly cowardly, but understandable, on a certain level.

For me, the impossible thing would be the things you left behind. The things that made all the above stuff worth it.

So if you need me, I’ll be at the office.