I ran into an old friend yesterday. It lives near me…but I hadn’t really kept up with him in all the ways I’ve wanted to. He’s my old college roommate and he’s now homeless. He’s been homeless for a few weeks now and I didn’t even know about it. I hadn’t bothered to call him back when he left me a voicemail a few weeks back. I was focused on my little bubble of the world.

I feel self-centered. I mean I don’t know what I could do about the situation of his housing situation other than be a good friend, which is something that I hadn’t been. While he was thinking about where he is going to sleep tonight, I was thinking about if I’m going to trade my PSP in for a Nintendo DS. Is this the plight of the privileged? Is this the weight that we must carry? To be concerned with personal matters instead of those of the people surrounding us.

I don’t know what I’m going to do about my friend…but I feel like I have to do something. Even if its nothing but give him a listening ear. I feel bad becasue I’ve watched his life turn and twist as I’ve been building up for my future. He has had cursed missed opportunities in life. Now when I say that I don’t mean to say that everything in my life has been roses, but I am in a position in my life where I can say I’m happy. So am I the cure? Or am I part of the disease? I don’t know…I’m not sure when or if I can ever know. But what I do know is that I can at least be the friend that I always told him I was. A friend that I believe I am and the friend that I would want if the situation was reversed…can we, as the privileged, do more than that?

…just something that was bouncing around in my mind…