Brooklyn Lifestyles

Double Click on Picture to view detail

The other day on my way home from Coney Island I passed the home of a very simple man. I stopped and went back and took this picture. It says a lot about the necessities of life. Things we need to live… 1. Patriotism (All the Flags) 2. Celebration and Heritage (Happy Saint Pat's Day) 3. Be prepared with a backup plan (2 Umbrellas) 4. Keep warm (Blanket in Bag). 5. Something to cook food with (Utensils in the bag) 6. Something to bring in light when darkness surrounds (Lantern in cart) 7. A place to rest. (Marble Wall) 8. Appreciation of others (Blue and white flag in back). 9. The ability to move in a moments notice. 10. Love and appreciation for the things God’s has made (beautiful flowers)

Things not included:

A big house with multiple heating and air conditioning units
A bathroom with shower
A laundry room with big front loading washer and dryer
A 52” TV and $200 a month cable bill
Cars for everyone in the family
A computer and video game console with high speed internet
Netflix
A big lawn that needs to be mowed
The IRS guy pounding at the door
Cell phone
A stressful job
And the list goes on…

Love & Loneliness.

As my dear homeless friend once told me “loneliness is the hardest part of being homeless”. Having people who love and care for you is an important part of life. Somewhere between homelessness and the extravagant American lifestyle is a place where love can find its place undistracted. Often we feel that we need to provide stuff to make our family happy. I think this is an easy out to avoid having to really love and serve our family and friends.

This week My Godson and his family decided to go for a bike ride. They had such a good time. Like his dad, little Eric loves to ride his bike and does it very well for a 4 year old. It cost little more than time to make this happen. There was so much love floating around this ride.

All of this is not to promote being homeless as a desired lifestyle, but to suggest that in a world that promotes excessive materialism to buy happiness, we should examine what is really important in life and make loving and serving those around us more important than providing more stuff to make us happy.