An old friend from high school happened to be be in my town and we decided to meet up this morning. It’s been years and we slowly stopped talking, so it was cool to meet up again.
She got a huge raise at work and said breakfast was on her. We had a great time catching up. On the way back to the car, a homeless lady asked for spare change and my “friend” did a complete 180, saying “I don’t give money to druggies,” and kept walking.
I apologized to the lady and gave her a dollar I’ve had forever. I caught up to my “friend” and asked what that was about. She went on a rant about homeless people taking advantage of the government, doing drugs, not putting in work to get themselves out of their situations, etc.
My mind was spinning bc this wasn’t the person I knew 8 years ago. I told her I was homeless in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and that she stereotyped the lady. She threw out excuses about how I’m somehow different than “normal” homeless people. I told her I literally have $17 in the bank because of a procedure where I wasn’t told I had to pay part up front, and that most Americans are one medical bill/car accident away from homelessness. So her saying she’d pay for my meal beforehand was a HUGE help since I have virtually no food and the food pantries here are almost empty. She kept using the same talking points then somehow brought Jesus into it. That was my limit. I told her she’s a terrible excuse for a Christian and got out her car to take the bus home.
She texted me later saying I could’ve gotten my point across without disrespecting her religion. I just told her to have a good life because clearly we’re not meant to be friends anymore. With the huge raise that she got, she’s forgotten her compassion. I’m not saying she was obligated to give the lady money, but as someone who was homeless and is now food insecure, what she said hurt. Today was my first real meal in weeks, so not only am I still gonna be hungry, but I’ve lost a friend too.