FEELING GUILTY' I SHOULD HAVE HELPED HIM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992                   TAG: 9202140474
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Don Hogan
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
FEELING GUILTY' I SHOULD HAVE HELPED HIM
I feel I must write this, I guess out of guilt. Recently, I was having lunch at Holiday Inn here in Roanoke.
As I was having lunch, a man whom I never met before walked in and looked me straight in the eye upon passing to sit in the far corner of the restaurant. At first I thought he was an employee and it didn't faze me. But moments later the waitress, who made sure everyone in the restaurant heard her, told the cashier to get this homeless person out of the restaurant because the men sitting near him couldn't stand the smell. All the cashier could say was oh, boy! Moments later a man held his arm and he was escorted out.
The sad thing was neither I nor anyone else, including the restaurant, offered him something to eat. The buffet the restaurant had was more than enough that they could have fed him.
I guess it's easy to talk about homeless, making excuses and hoping the problem will go away. Yet, we do nothing. My feelings to9ld me to stop and feed him before he was escorted out, but like everybody else in the restaurant, I did nothing and I'm as guilty as the Holiday Inn. I could have helped, but all I could do was to feed my belly. How ashamed we all should be when an opportunity comes along to help someone and we do nothing.
It was my duty to help someone less fortunate than myself. I guess this is why America is not moral and God-fearing because we care for no one but ourselves.
I walked out the door looking for the man, but it was too late. He was gone , but not my shame and guilt for not doing what was right. For that I am sorry, but sorry doesn't feed the homeless.

Don Hogan lives in Roanoke and is manager for a local rental business.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB