Today (a Sunday) my wife’s church group (she is Catholic) came over to our home to assemble bags of food to give to the homeless. It was an effort to make something that could be given to the homeless and others who populate the busiest intersections in Austin that provides real help rather than money to support whatever addiction they may have.

As a part of the lesson, the children listened to some arithmetic on how much income is considered the poverty level for a family of four in the United States, followed by a subtraction from that income of minimal amounts that must be spent on housing, food, medical bills and insurance, utilities, and other necessities. Even discounting “luxuries” such as new clothes and educational expenses, the amount of money available to a family living at exactly the poverty line was less than that required to live a minimal life according to the statistical averages. After the lesson, the kids put together the bags intended for the homeless along with making some cards or notes to put in the bags from their families (omitting family names, of course).

What was interesting to me was the text of many of the cards that were made, messages that were written without adult prompting. The most poignant message, repeated here verbatim, including the grammatical error, “Your not alone.”  Disregarding the grammatical error, this is an incredibly powerful message, one that is often not understood by many who do not understand the utter loneliness that is felt by even those who have no real reason for that emotion, much less by those who truly have no one to turn to in a time of need

Somehow, I suspect those children who wrote those words, “Your not alone,” understand the feeling better than their parents.

Some lessons are forgotten despite our best efforts and intentions, especially if we allow cynicism to color our view of life and humanity.