Enjoy!
Dear Diary… Dental Supplies for My
Homeless Friend, Ron
When I drive to work from Queens everyday, I usually take the same route. LIE to Queensboro Bridge to FDR
Drive. On
my way from the Queensboro Bridge to the FDR
Drive, I
usually see a homeless man with a sign on the sidewalk. As a New Yorker, I personally don’t give money
to homeless people but instead I’ll give him snacks that I have in the car. Once
in awhile, I will give him the sandwich I made myself for lunch. He certainly
needs it more than I do. I can definitely afford to lose some weight and go
without lunch for a day!
After a few years of sharing
my food, one day, my car was stopped right next to him waiting for the light to
change. He looked at me and I looked at him. I asked him, “What’s your name?” I
figure that after all these years, if I’m to see him on a regular basis, might
as well say Hi properly and address him by his name. “My name is Ron”, he
replied. After that, whenever I hand him
a snack in the morning, I say, “Hi, Ron!” with a smile. He smiles back and
thanks me for the food. I noticed that
he doesn’t have any teeth in the front. I’m guessing that doesn’t affect his
eating habits because Ron is not a skinny guy!
It also made me re-think
about the snacks I’ve been handing out to him. Since he’s homeless, he may not
be brushing often enough for me to be giving him sugary snacks or cookies each
time. As a dentist, I would not want him to be leaving all that food around his
mouth and not being able to clean it out properly. It got me thinking; instead
of giving him food and snacks, I could give him a toothbrush and toothpaste!
That would make sense.
I haven’t seen Ron all
winter but now that the weather has warmed up, I’m sure I’ll be seeing him
again. I’ll have to remember to keep a toothbrush and some toothpaste in my car
so I can give them to him next time. After all, for Ron, going through a
difficult time in his life doesn’t mean he needs to lose more teeth because of
tooth and gum problems.
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