Monday, April 9, 2012

Friend Faces

A  L  O  H  A !

Thank YOU for looking in.
Friends like YOU make life wonderful!



"A friend is someone 

who knows

 the song in your heart 

and can sing it 

back to you 

when you have 

forgotten the words."

Anonymous 

 

>>>>>>PLEASE SEE THE 'MAIN' POST OF THE DAY BELOW > > > > > >> > >>>>>>>>>

Thank YOU!

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
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