“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

– Desmond Tutu, South African social rights activist

“I got scared,” the young man told the two EMTs. “He hasn’t moved in half an hour.”

I was at a downtown coffee shop in the large city where I live, waiting for friends to arrive. Shortly after I had sat down, the EMTs had walked through the door, and the young man – a server at the coffee shop – had waved them over to the booth in front of mine.

He pointed to the man seated – or rather, slumped – in the booth. From where I sat, all I could see was the back of his head. His hair was long, black and unkempt. All conversation in the coffee shop had ceased.  

Please subscribe to keep reading.