Dear friends,
Over the past weekend, I happened to walk by a homeless encampment and went over to speak with some of the individuals there.
I spoke with a homeless man who seemed to be partially speaking with me, and partially speaking with other people that I could not see. I also spoke with a woman who said she fled her abusive home at the age of 21, and wished that she had a tent — like some of the others — so she could sleep with something over her head rather than be exposed to the elements at night.
I feel grateful and privileged every day to have enough food, to have a place to live, and to even have a modern computer with internet access.
I’m going to come out and say this (knowing some people will disagree): Every one of us has an obligation to serve others.
While we can try to help a handful of people at a time with a meal or a donation — and this is to be celebrated — I don’t know how to systematically help the large and growing number of homeless. But I will keep thinking on this, and am determined to find a way. Even as we build amazing products and technologies, let’s keep thinking about how we can scalably serve the many wonderful, resilient individuals like the ones I met last weekend.
Keep learning!
Andrew