Love Will Save the Day

Last Sunday a college friend of mine, Gus, invited me to some live jazz in the east village. Gus is doing some "clean living" and has renounced all drugs and alcohol, turned vegetarian...and he makes it all look gangster. Gus is clearly one of my favorite people. When I arrived the expected ten minutes late (in true Jen form), Gus was sitting on the neighboring steps holding a giant bottle of water. When we headed inside the maitre d’ asked us if we had reservations amidst a blatantly packed venue. It was a good start to the night when as we responded “No sir,” he still managed to seat us at the only empty table right in the front row. After the show Gus walked me home. As we crossed the street at St. Marks Place, a beggar was playing the guitar and singing into a microphone on the corner. He was singing Des’ree- Love Will Save the Day, and it stopped us in our tracks. In fact, it stopped everyone in their tracks. It was breathtaking. Sort of like that one sound you can feel all the way into your stomach. A crowd started to gather as we let the moment take us all captive, put us into a trance. About midway through the song a homeless man in a wheelchair rolled by, and struggled through the gathering people. He rolled up to the musician, leaned over, and cautiously peered into the money jar sitting on the concrete sidewalk. At first I thought he may try to grab some of the coins, but instead what I saw will remain engrained in my memories of New York forever. He took his own paper cup with his left hand, reached in with two fingers, pulled out a dollar bill and dropped it into the singer’s pouch. He then continued to wheel on his way, north on Second Avenue. My arms chilled and my mouth dropped open. Gus caught my eye as tears filled them and said, “That’s real love right there.” We smiled at each other and took a patient pause to just let that sink in for a bit. Feel it. Learn from it. We should all learn from it. Maybe you will today too...