janradder

When Arie was three I used to drive along Diamond Lake Road to take him to preschool. Along the way, as we passed the exit ramp from 35W there was usually a guy standing at the corner holding a sign. Usually it said, "Will Work for Money" or "Will Work for Food." Behind him, he'd have a kid's wagon with a yard rake in the fall and a snow shovel in the winter. I'm not really sure how he was going to rake the lawns or shovel the sidewalks of the people who gave him money from their cars as they got off the highway, but he had them anyway.

About two or three months after I first saw him, he had a new sign. "Absolute Desperation," it read. And he looked it. It was a good sign. Each time we passed by, he was usually getting money from a car that had pulled over to the curb. A couple days later, the "Will Work" signs appeared and then a couple days after that, the "Absolute Desperation" sign was back. He alternated them for the next few months until finally he just used the "Absolute Desperation" sign and the yard tools and wagon were gone.

It's four years later and he's still there with the same sign, looking no worse for the wear. He stands on the corner with a pathetic half-smile he gives to drivers or else he talks on his cell phone. I have no idea what his story is or why he's standing on the corner asking for money. All I know is that four years seems like an awfully long time to be living in "absolute desperation" without something changing.