Scary (Albeit Stupid) Movies, and Homeless, Anonymous Dreamies

Today I went to go visit with a few friends whom I recently got back in touch. We had planned a movie night, but hadn't decided on a movie. My friend who had connections had a few bootleg copies, and we had two choices: Inception or Paranormal Activities. The final vote was Inception-1 PA-4. Guess who voted for Inception?

Perhaps I'm just a guy with an overactive imagination, but scary movies tend to stay with me much longer than those annoying Hallmark ones. Maybe it's just me, but even movies that aren't so scary, but have screams of terror, fear, grunts of submission, possession, just freak me out. Not necessarily because I find the effects scary, but the concept of evil overcoming good, in the supernatural realm, in the political realm, or even in the spiritual realm... terrifies me. To think that Evil can so easily intrude on people, is just mortifying to me.

After the very first scream [which turned out to be nothing, by the way], I figured that I couldn't watch it, and I left. I'm dead serious: after spending about 45 minutes with friends who I usually could spend weeks-on-end with, I went out into 37 degree weather to buy an Eggnog Latte beneath the holey black sheet that covered the sky in protest of that movie.

When I was walking out of the jazzy establishment, I noticed a man with a winter coat on. I had seen him while walking in, but when I saw him again, I knew that he had wanted some change. I wished  that he had wanted some change.

"Hey, bro, do you have any change on you?"

Immediately, I remembered that when I had bought my Venti Eggnog Latte, I took the change from my five, exactly $0.25, and put it into the tip jar. I then remembered that I had two dimes from when I bought the pizza for my family. While he picked at one of the various scabs and scars on his hands, I fished into my wallet for those two Roosevelts for him.

As I climbed into my car, something came over me. I realized then that I had this strange desire to know him. I don't mean in the biblical, Sodom and Gomorrah context, but to sincerely sit down an talk to this man who had asked me for twenty cents. My mind was filled with questions about this arbitrary man, and I didn't even get a clear look at his face (no light), only distinctly hearing his voice. His eyes (what I could see of them) were friendly, his voice light, and his manner optimistic. I was immediately drawn to him, this lightness in darkness, and I realized that, of the two of us, it was he who had helped me out.

I turned back to where he stood, and he was gone. I saw him moving through the well-lit beams of a laundromat and disappear. I climbed out of the car and followed him to where I last saw him, and I searched all up and down 40th for him. I wondered so much about him: his family, his name. I thought about his scabby hands, what it would feel like to watch them tell stories in accompaniment to his voice. I wondered what color his eyes were and what brand his coat was. I wondered if he was religious or an addicted. Oh, how I wondered and wondered and wondered some more. Was that love I felt? I don't mean the romantic love, but just...love? Free and unreserved? Or pity?

As I pulled back into my friend's place, I found myself praying:

Dear God. I don't know how much my prayers are worth these days, or whether or not you even hear them anymore, but, if you hear nothing else, please hear this: Give that man warmth, wherever he sleeps tonight. Give him shelter and bring him to You.

Looking back, now, I can't honestly say I know the last time I had ever prayed for God to bring a stranger closer to him. Maybe I'm just returning to my love for the kindness of strangers? Giving and receiving it? I felt it a lot before becoming an active Christian. I did it a lot when I was an active Christian. Now maybe I'm returning to it as I make my ascent from the solipsist Christian to the sophisticated Christian...

Whatever it is, I have to say that I'm thankful for it. It was worth missing out on half of a movie about evil overtaking the innocent. I committed and felt the power of good in a random encounter.