Alternative Winter Break 2016 Post A Local Perspective – Sophia Fisher

During lunch there was a homeless man on a bench playing guitar and singing. When lunch was he came over to our group and he began to play and sing for us. He went on to tell us how just a few months before he taught himself how to play guitar. One thing that really touched me was this mans connection to Gd/Jesus. The fact that this man was living on the streets of Santa Monica, just himself and his guitar, and still had a smile on his face was astonishing to me. I know that if I was in his position there is no way that I would have such optimistic view on my life. Even though he happened to have a strong connection to Jesus rather than God, I found his religious views and values very inspiring. I found it moving how he used his passion for music and religion to keep a constant smile on his face. I just don’t understand how anyone could seem so happy living under such seemingly horrible conditions. I found that a small portion of the homeless community that we came across happened to be content with how they live. I live in Los Angeles and was still in awe at the amount of homeless people that we were able to meet and see in just in one community.