Bless a Drunk

By Carol S.
for Ben H. Swett, July 2004
Edited by E. "Rei" Izawa

To: Ben
From: Carol

Dear Ben and First Century

B. told me of his adventures at the street festival last night which featured a LOT of beer.

Here's my write-up and interpretation of his report below. Thought you might enjoy it.

Blessings to you all!

Carol

At a rowdy summer street festival featuring a lot of beer, B. came up with a new game: blessing drunks. An expansion on our blessing exercise. He decided to bless everyone he saw.

Who noticed? Maybe a dozen people out of a thousand. An old black man, an old black woman. Several girls with too much make-up (the type who just want someone to admire and love them, but are a tad confused about how to do that). Several policemen on duty outside the crowded bars, men whose job is to watch attitude and posture and feel for intent -- to stop trouble before it starts. They blinked at him in surprise. "Good evening, Sir!" they said.

One panhandler went wide-eyed and did a U-turn to attach himself to B.. "Hey! My man! My man!" he cried and started into his spiel. B. stopped it cold.

"You're a con, aren't you," said B..

The man admitted he was.

"I am a corrections officer; I am not going to give you money. I am not going to be your duck. But what is it that you really want?"

Pause.

"I'm hungry," said the panhandler.

"Come on," said B.. "I'll buy you a sandwich." And so he fed the hungry with an Italian meatball sub and visited with those who had been in prison. "Don't try so hard. Don't push. You're scaring people. Relax and you'll be OK."

"Enjoy your sandwich."

A Blessing.

Ben's Reply

To: Carol
From: Ben
Subject: Re: Bless a Drunk

Carol,

The appropriate response comes immediately to mind:

YAY!

And for B., next step: as you bless a person, ask Jesus to send angels to amplify your blessing.

Ben

Spirituality Learned the Hard Way