Saint Sharon

A  L  O  H  A !

" I am human

 and let nothing

 human

 be alien

 to me.  "

Terence

 

 " All see

 and judge better

 in the affairs of others

 than in their own.  "

Terence 

" She ne'er was

 really charming 

till she died.  "

Terence

)<[]>(

 It did not come natural to me,

being a child

of the suburbs,

but I inherited

a lot of Street

from my dad

& grandad

the taxi driver.

City Guys,

East Coast.

"Street smarts"

VS

"The easy-to-cheat

fool 

from the country"

means

the rube

will buy the 

Brooklyn Bridge

every time.

So I wanted

Street;

my inheritance.

Some grow up

on the street,

some fall to it,

some make their 

living there.

"I worked my whole life

to get away from 

this neighborhood-

and you moved

right back here."

Complained my Dad

with grudging

comprehension.

Moving to Hawaii,

I lived in rural Kona

(Big Island)

as readers of MY BOOK

know.

When I discovered

the real, vest-pocket

city

of Honolulu,

I was hooked.

I drove a taxi here

for several years

including

over night.

Hawaiian ghosts,

druggies,

all night spots,

Hono-Lu

has shown me 

her soul;

And enfolded

mine.

For years,

I was the public health

condom-HIV Testing-

'talk to me'

lady

for the working girls

down town.

That's when I met

Sharon Black.

Like me, she too

was an outreach worker:

a small, proud, profession

more specialized

than police.

Some say the Apostles

were the first

Outreach workers.

Some of us

are still 

recruited and sent

by the same

boss!

Sharon actually worked

for the police department!

Until

a sexual harassment

suit 

(hers, successful)

against a police

official

squelched that.

Sharon wasn't a

Pretty Girl.

She looked like

the People of the Streets.

Perhaps that's why

an executive above her

felt she was

easy prey.

Sharon was skinny

and wiry

and For Real.

On her own

she launched the 

Kau Kau Wagon

[ Link ]

to feed the people 

of Honolulu's streets,

and ran it for years

with donations,

volunteers.

Every week

Sharon and her tiny army

fed hundreds of people.

In her 'spare time'

Sharon trained

her 3 Great Danes,

Mokka, Polo & Rambo,

and got them certified

as Therapy Dogs.

The four of them

were familiar faces

at nursing homes,

and hospitals

around our island.

The dogs have

 US Army ID Cards

[with their pictures]

as they worked often

at Tripler Army Medical Ctr.

Sharon and I talked

a few times,

but we were sisters,

sisters of the 

Street

and Her People.

Mokka, Polo & Rambo

stood on my feet

more than once.

Very Sweet, Gentle,

 Intelligent Dogs!

This week,

Sharon died 

of cancer

at age 52.

Her canine companions

will go to live on a ranch

on the Big Island

as she had hoped.

Now that she is safely

dead,

this Streety Gal

[who made the 

'Straight People'

uncomfortable

even as they

donated

to her good acts]

is honored.

Some deaths sting.

This one does me.

For whom the bell tolls?

It is most often

 our own mortality

that we mourn.

 "My mom always told me

 if you believe in something, fight for it," 

said Nicole Black, Sharon Black's daughter 

who is an U.S. Army specialist stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas. 

"She was always worried about how people felt. 

 She wanted people to feel good 

about themselves 

and not have to go hungry. "
from a news story HERE

Thanks for reading this,

and for honoring my friend

with your attention.

'Take away Peace - Leave a Comment'

Warmly, cloudia