The Man in the Green Jacket
He Used to Be Angry Working in a major city with a large homeless population, I often find myself interacting with those who have no place to call home. Pete was not the kindest man when he first started coming in but I never took it personally - it's hard to be nice when you're tired, cold, and hungry. He always wore a faded green jacket, ripped blue jeans, and dragged a large cart full of his stuff behind him. "Large Pike with five raw sugar and cream," he'd say bluntly before I had the chance to ask him how he was doing that day. My most memorable interaction of those early days with Pete was when he asked me about the pandemic. "I have no way to read the news, I don't know what's going on. When can I sit in here again?" I let him know what information I had, but after he left, my heart ached with the realization that so many don't have any access to resources about the current state of the world. One night, after I realized he'...