Wondering as a Wanderer Day I

This is not means by which I attempt to boast a good deed. The call for an act that required me to go out of my way to help came about when I drove by a homeless man sitting next to what I would infer is where he puts his belongings. He just sat on the sidewalk of this street. He did nothing. There were thousands of cars busily driving by him every hour; a Walmart only fifty steps away; post holiday consumer high was rampant, and this man sat with a doleful expression on his face- without anything to do. He sat there, still as a statue, seemingly devoid of emotions and intent to move. I was instantly moved, not that seeing a homeless man walking about on a divider with a sign in hand doesn't move me, that I instantly decided to get him a gift-card to the local market, Sprouts. By the way, I strongly recommend visiting that store instead of your local Walmart. Sure, Wally World is cheaper, but Sprouts is a great smaller company that has high quality products, meanwhile treating its employees rightly. I got myself the usual fruit smoothie/juice. It was a blueberry apple blend with some other fruits that I honestly don't remember. All I remember is I was extremely sore. It supplied me with 650 calories, mostly composed of carbohydrates, and satisfied my athletic, moving body. I walked up to the cashier, a slight limp in my step resulting from higher mileage, putting on a genuinely confused look, asking "Do you have gift-cards?" She shot me an expression of wonder, as if no one bought gift-cards to grocery stores. I completed the transaction for ten dollars and banked it in my wallet. I reached for the bottle of juice and immediately opened it upon exiting the store. The sweet parched my mouth; the energy parched my body. I had never taken for granted the things I had, but nor have I considered what life would be without what I had. I had a car; a wallet with money; a friend next to me; and food. I thought back to the man on the sidewalk who boasted no such thing. A feeling of anxiety washed over me- I wanted to give him this gift card and see a smile on his face. I wanted the words "Happy Holidays" to rush off my tongue like a stampede of elephants- to remind him that people did care. That he could, at least for a moment, have food and friend. I parked in the Walmart lot behind the man and rushed out of the car, left running with my buddy in the passenger seat. I approached him, a middle aged man with long, dark hair and beard, a wide smile pasted on my face, and extended a hand introducing myself, "Hello sir, my name is Patryk." He turned to me, glanced at my extended hand and then looked to me. I quickly took a second to analyze if he had hands to extend and was fast to realize he had a cigarette situated in his right hand. My mind began to boil a little, however distracted by mumbled some words I could not comprehend but I insisted on exclaiming "Happy Holidays, man! This is for you," handing him the plastic rectangle, worth a meal or two. I had no other words so I wished him the best and went on my way. I drove off, truthfully a tad ticked off, however grateful that I purchased a gift card for him. Even if he wanted to buy drugs, he couldn't and would have to settle for physical nourishment. I didn't speak to my friend much, far too concerned with what I had just seen. However, the more I ruminated on it, I came to the conclusion that homelessness eventually becomes far worse than helplessness. This was ostracization: Domestic dogs are fed better than this; domestic dogs are given more attention; domestic dogs have more comfortable shelters than this man. If a dog sat on the side of a street, it would've been attended to within minutes- but a man, lonely and hungry amid the holiday season, could not be spared that same luxury. I cannot understand how church goers can dump money into those little baskets, infer it goes to food drives, thus relieved of the burden of caring, and ignore the obvious needs of some underprivileged persons of society. No, apathy, but furthermore, ingratiating, and clearly pretentious display of sympathy for the thousands of starving has washed over our society. I believe it has came with the title of the products we consume. Material has turned us against each other. The iPhone user is unequivocally better than the Android user, thus more important than the man on the street. Arrogance manifests itself in the form of our ingratiating and ostensible sympathy, whether that be in a religious' charitable donations to its church or the lay person pitting their concern for animal cruelty or homelessness against the antithesis of such ethics. Members of society are becoming too enthralled with how their possessions and actions make them and forgetting how their material possessions and actions to others can make their day; or more, their life.
It took a solid ten minutes, but I didn't let the fact that he smoked cigarettes bother me. I,after all, had given him the opportunity to eat well. I had given myself the opportunity to understand that he has shunned by his fellow neighbors.  I understand that he has been shoved into the darkness, no candles to light the way. That cigarette may be his only light..
Or we can decide to pull him back.