"Freddie"

For many years I have been coming to Kona. It is a beautiful almost magical place that holds a lot of wonderful memories of past and present adventures for me. I can see myself pulling up roots and making my way across that not so small puddle of water someday and becoming one with the island and its people. I find myself stepping outside of my comfort zone more here. I am more aware of people. Maybe because there are so many who have so little. One man has intrigued me from the day I first set foot on this island. He is alone, homeless, and from what I can gather happy. I used to call him "Bark Man" because the first time I saw him all he was wearing was the bark from some tree the grows over here. Somehow he had managed to make clothing out of it! In the years since he has been able to find a swim suit now and then tossed aside by a wealthy tourist and a jacket of sorts when it gets cooler at night. He mostly goes without shoes but for some reason this year he has been wearing shoes...flip flops. He is older, has lived on the streets and beaches of Kona for who knows how long. His skin is weathered and his hair hangs in long dreads...I am sure that it has not seen a bottle of shampoo in decades. He doesn't cut his nails so they just grow long and get thick and brown. I am not sure if this is more for protection or just that he has nothing to cut them with. Hard to say. All this time I have been a little intimidated to approach him but at the same time drawn to him. He has the most piercing blue eyes, sort of sad yet, intelligent and beautiful. This week I have gotten to know Freddie... a little. He is kind, gentle and polite. He has a story in there and I would love to hear it. His feet are very bad right now. He told me that he found some flip flops and he thinks he developed an allergy of some sort to them...I think that he tried to put a cream ( found who knows where and who knows what) on his feet that was not meant for human skin. He told me that it was some sort of silicone stuff that he had found. He thought it would help the flip flops slide across the tops of his feet and not irritate the sores so much! Now he can't seem to get if off of his feet and it just keeps irritating the sores. Anyway, I am trying to help him nurse his feet back to health and perhaps he will open up a little bit more as the days go by. He is a very interesting character. Just a note, you should see the looks I get from passers by as I sit and visit with him and help him with his feet. Ann and Shelly think that I am a little "out there" too but I am starting to bring them around a little too they are as interested in him as I am, they would just rather hear about him through me...Ann and I bought him a new pair of flip flops last night that have a much softer strap across the top and through the toe. Hopefully they will help his feet heal and last through the summer for him. I worry about the sores on the tops of his feet they really are bad and he picks at them. (I told you about his nails). One of the owners of Lava Java told me that the rumor is that he is actually Fred McMurrays son...whether that is true or not we will most likely never know.

I wanted to get a picture of Freddie but decided not to because I felt like he deserves his privacy. I talked with him again just before we left and asked him if he was going to use the ointments and band aids that I had given him for his feet. He looked at me with those intelligent yet empty blue eyes and explained that all he really needed was the air and time (10 days) and with those two things all would be well. He then told me that the body was a remarkable creation which was capable of healing itself. He also told me that there were many "others" who were much worse off than he. That he was one of the fortunate ones and for that he was very grateful. He did take the shoes that we got for him and said that he would wear them. I asked him if he would be there next year when I came back and he promised me he would. I hope that he is.

I know that the Lord watches over the "Freddie's" of this world but, it is up to us to reach out and help where we can. I hope that we never pass up that person on the street that is asking for help by judging why he or she is doing so. Simply help. It really doesn't take very much of our time or money and the the feeling that you have knowing that you have done something good for someone else is so worth the effort no matter how small.