Al Kyte's Life Take-Aways

Socks are important to homeless people.  Having to walk to get from one place to another  with few opportunities to shower or wash clothes will wear socks out quickly.  

I found out how important socks can be one day during our outreach on the streets of Oakland.  A woman came up to us and asked if we had any socks.  There was an urgency in her request.  She took the pair we handed her without also taking the lunch or other items being offered.  Clutching those socks in her hand, she took a few steps back to lean against a building and started to cry.  Gradually letting her body slide down that wall, she was wailing by the time she reached a sitting position on the ground.  One of the women in our group went over and sat quietly next to her.  A few minutes later the tearful woman shared that earlier that morning someone had stolen her only pair of socks from the nearby line where she was drying them out.  She said it felt as if her last bit of human dignity had been stripped away.  When she heard we were giving out new socks, she came quickly in the desperate hope we had not run out.  When she had those socks safely in her hand, her feeling of relief was so great she couldn’t hold back the tears.  I can’t recall ever having received a gift that meant as much to me as those socks did to her at that moment.

On a different day at that same location, I brought along a man named Rodney I had been mentoring during his year of recovery from a heroin addiction.  Having recently completed that program, Rodney wanted to be a positive example for people who had known him during the worst of his addiction.  I loved seeing how he was encouraging people and giving them hope.  At one point a friend of his joined us, and we stood talking with him as he waited in a short line to receive what provisions we had.  As he got to the front of the line, he was informed that we had just run out of socks.  He became visibly upset because he had particularly been looking forward to getting socks to replace the rain-soaked ones on his feet.

I called him aside and the three of us moved off a ways.  I said to him, “I am really sorry we ran out of socks, but there is one pair left that is clean and dry and on my feet.  Can I give you my socks?”  He thought about that a moment then replied, “Yes.”  So I took off my shoes and socks, gave him my socks, and put my shoes back on my feet.  After he walked away, Rodney said to me, “I’ve got a ways to go in this.  How did you think to offer him your socks?”  I said, “Rodney, you’re not the only one who has made mistakes.  Several years ago we were loading up to leave after giving out all our provisions, when a woman came up to us pleading for a pair of socks.  I told her I was sorry but we were all out, and only later realized what I could have offered her.  For some time I have been praying that God give me another chance to do that right.  Today He answered my prayers.