ON THE STREET!

I see them everywhere, young and old, male and female, standing at the corners and on the medians of major cross streets. Holding their signs which explain their plight, unkempt and dirty – their eyes search for me through my windshield or side window as they walk slowly past the cars – hoping I will have mercy on them and send them a spare dollar.

At times I refuse to even look at them. I don’t want to be reminded of how hard life can be by staring at it on the street corner everytime I venture across town.

I’ve sifted through a million thoughts as to why and how they ended up there and if they will be there the rest of their lives or if they have a plan. I’ve suffered severe emotional waves over seeing some of them.

The thought has crossed my mind that some of them just do it for a living because it’s possible they could make enough that they don’t have to do anything else. One story told by an Omaha player in the Mirage days: Ed stopped by a guy on the corner that held a sign reading Will Work For Food. Ed asked the guy if he wanted to wash all the windows at Ed’s house for $200. The guy said, “Hell no! I make more than that in a day here!”

Or if they have really reached such a point of desperation that they don’t know what else to do or if they think the rest of the world owes them a living. Or if they are completely alone in the world and lost without family or friends that might help them.

Yes, I’ve handed money to a few of them at the street corners and shopping malls and grocery stores. Many times I’ve retorted that I don’t have any spare change. Sometimes it’s the way the person strikes me that makes my decision simple.

A few days ago while cruising with my friend, Wayne, we saw a guy on a median with a sign that demanded, “I have to eat too.”

That was a first for me, demanding that we give him money so he could eat. My first impulse is to blurt out, “Get a job! That’s what I did.”

But in general, I think about their plight, their despair, their lack of choice, and the loss of their self esteem and pride.

Some years ago, late at night, I entered a parking lot to a grocery store. The night was cold as hell and under a tree, next to the block wall, a dirty, flimsy blanket was spread over a shivering form.

I was sick. I turned around, crying all the way, I headed for my house. I made a thermos of hot soup, found a thick, warm blanket that I hadn’t used in a few years, and sent my son, Josh, out into the night to find this person.

The long and short of it, Josh didn’t find this person but he did find another guy down on Main Street that was trying sleep on the curb. Josh gave him the soup and the blanket.

Over the last few years, each time I went to Walgreens to pick up a prescription, there’s been a shivering, older woman, that sleeps on the park benches in front of the store. She has her little home with her, a push cart with personal looking items in it, and she’s generally curled up and in Sandman Land by the time I arrive in the wee hours of the morning. She hasn’t been there the last few months and I’ve wondered if she moved to a new corner or if something happened to her.

Many, many times I’ve wondered what twist of fate or self put me where I am and them where they are. Guess this part of it goes to the spiritual side of me, the soul searching, the eternal WHY questions that are always going on in my head.

One of my sons spent almost two years on the street, in flop houses, filling his body with drugs that tear apart the soul and shred any family ties and existence to a human being with a life. It’s quite painful to watch and has to be horrible to go through, even when the person in that position is convinced they have the best of it.

And isn’t that the way it is with poker.

Think of the effect of a storm raging on the horizon – a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed – but put on your water wings and hold your breath.

Remember that poker has the same effect on some people. Guard your emotions well. Protect your life away from the game while you are involved in the game. Build a fortress to carry you through the times when you can’t, for the life of you, remember what it was like to win.

Most of all – remember the only thing that seperates you from the people on the corner is you.