All this is to say...

Three stories.

I am about to walk out of my office to sit with the rest of the staff while we eat lunch.  The phone rings and the call is put through to me.  When I answer, I am confronted with an angry woman who is upset she has to repeat her story again.  She tells me of her troubles filing her taxes on time so her refund hasn't arrived yet.  She tells me how all the other places she's called have turned her down.  She asks me to buy her a birthday cake for her two year old son.  I explain that my church has policies in place that guide how we are able to provide help for people in need.  She pulls the 'Christian' card, asking if I'm Christian, shouldn't buying her a cake simply come from the generosity of my heart.  I try to do some more gentle explaining, am only met with resistance, and finally have to say firmly that I will not be able to help her out this time around.  She calls me a heartless, unChristian bitch and hangs up on me.

A man comes to the church door.  He is obviously coming off a high and looking for a fix.  He gives me a poorly concocted story about being a trucker, needing to get three hours north, not having any gas, and his boss being out of town for the weekend.  He explains that he's asked hundreds of people for help but no one is willing to give him twenty dollars.  I explain that we do not have cash in the church but I'd be willing to call a deacon to see if we can arrange helping him get gas for his truck.  He declines saying he'd rather have cash.  He walks to the Narcotics Anonymous leaders, still talking in the parking lot after their daily meeting, to try to convince them.  He is unsuccessful.  He scoops some old cigarette butts from the can the NA-ers use and proceeds to light one up as he climbs back into this truck.

A woman stands outside the Starbucks I work at.  She is screaming obscenities, banging on the Starbucks windows, and flailing her arms about.  She is displaying symptoms of some sort of psychosis.  Once I get inside to begin my shift I find that earlier she had been forcibly removed from the store by a police officer after a patron called to complain about her disruptive nature.  She was given a ticket for disorderly conduct as well as a warning about returning to the store but has not heeded.  My coworkers have called the police again.  The car drives up and the woman begins to run.  The officer hops out and chases her down.  She begins to kick, scratch and yell at him.  He brings her to the ground where she continues to try  to wrestle against him.  He puts his knee into her back, cuffs her, and basically drags her into the back of his car.  Another car arrives to watch her as the officer who arrested her comes to get our information.  He is bleeding.  EMS arrives and she is taken into the ambulance.  The cop informs us she'll be taken to a psychiatric ward.

All this is to say I am thankful for the life I have.