Without Confidence and Clarity.
While working at a homeless shelter throughout the majority of my twenties, I jumped on one client's bandwagon (due largely to my own naivety and desire to 'do good') as soon as she mumbled the first word in a longer sentence about leaving her abusive husband. Had I waited to hear what she actually had to say, I might not have solicited donations in the form of gift cards to southern mini-malls (where I was sure she'd relocate) and old suitcases my friends considered storage space. Too quickly I convinced at least thirty generous strangers that she was eager and ready to make this impossible decision, and almost as fast as I prepared her (and her two children) to start anew over five states away, I was returning cartoon band aides and Walmart credit cards with my head hanging low and an overwhelming sense of defeat. Impossible decisions like these, though perhaps start with the helping hand of an over-eager twenty-something, require so much more than a bus ticket and a first aid kit. (Enjoy.)
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