UNDERSTANDING LOVE ON VALENTINE'S DAY.Byline: ELIZABETH SANDOVAL Local View LOVE is not a true virtue unless one loves the unlovable, right? After all, it's quite easy to "love" your puppy or your new cell phone or the Chicago Bears On a recent night, a group of us had just vacated $25 nosebleed nosebleed, nasal hemorrhage occurring as the result of local injury or disturbance. Most nosebleeds are not serious and occur when one of the small veins of the septum (the partition between the nostrils) ruptures. seats at Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. and made our way outside when my friend "Karen" informed us, "That's my brother behind you." We turned to find a homeless man. I soon learned that within the group of eight of us who had come to the game was this homeless man's own daughter -- Karen's niece -- who hadn't seen her father but twice in the past four years, and not at all in the six years prior. "I almost didn't recognize you," he told Karen. "I know you didn't," she responded. Karen's simple "How are you?" spawned the heartbreaking details of this man's so-called life. "I just got out," he stated, lifting his sleeve to display a prison bracelet still clinging to his wrist. He'd just spent upward of more than; above. See also: Upward a year behind bars for manslaughter. Now he stood before us, not-so-gaunt-looking (prison had fattened him up a bit, Karen speculated). He walked with us to the parking structure to see his daughter, who had already made her way to the car. We all tried to step aside and give them some room to catch up. Their reunion lasted a minute maybe. Once inside the car, the tears came. For several of us. His daughter: "I'd rather not see him at all than see him this way. My mother died of a drug overdose Drug Overdose Definition A drug overdose is the accidental or intentional use of a drug or medicine in an amount that is higher than is normally used. . When I have kids, they won't see any of that. I will give them a different life." Karen: "It would have killed my mom to see her son this way." Me: "No one is a lost cause." Karen and her niece were visibly moved -- but were, for all intents and purposes Adv. 1. for all intents and purposes - in every practical sense; "to all intents and purposes the case is closed"; "the rest are for all practical purposes useless" for all practical purposes, to all intents and purposes , accustomed to this. I wasn't. "Where will he go now?" I asked Karen, half wondering why she wasn't scooping him up into the Suburban with us and taking him back to safety in suburbia. "Back on the streets," she said. She added that he looked as if he was "on" something. "How is that possible?" I asked. Drug-free in prison for over a year and the instant he gets out, the addiction kicks in again? "Yes," was her answer. I guess some addictions lie dormant Verb 1. lie dormant - be inactive, as if asleep; "His work lay dormant for many years" and never truly die. She said she could sense that he wanted to ask her for money, but that even if he had, she didn't have cash in her wallet. I won't pretend to be so noble that I returned home and instantly signed up to volunteer at a homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. . But I was moved to do something. I will challenge myself this Valentine's Day to contemplate what it means to truly "love" something, or better yet, someone. Do I really know the definition of "love"? And am I living out that definition? After all, it's much easier to "love" the athlete in the arena than the homeless man outside of it. |
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