I write in response to the cold rebuttal written by William LaRochelle regarding Shannon Jones’ column, where she bares her soul about being the mother of a homeless son (“Cash helps homeless more than kind words,” April 28).
I had sent a copy of Ms. Jones’ column to a friend whose son was homeless, the story uncannily similar, and who had been found deceased on the other side of the country. I hoped it might offer her a sense of solidarity. She told me, “I could have written this.”
Her concern for her son, at the times she didn’t know where he was, was not whether or not he had money, but her hope was that he wasn’t alone and that someone was being kind to him. Isn’t that what we all want: someone to be kind to us?
While running an errand on Lisbon Street a while back a woman approached my car and knocked on the window asking me if I had any money to spare to help pay for her insulin. I told her I was sorry, and that I didn’t have any cash (which I rarely carry anymore).
She acknowledged this and went on her way. A little while later, we crossed paths on the street and she said to me, “Thank you for being nice to me and talking to me.”
So I disagree with Mr. LaRochelle. Cash is not more meaningful than a “mere word.”
Maureen Andrew, Greene
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