Jesus was born in 1993 in NYC (one of the outer boroughs)
He taught himself carpentry in the garage of a friend
But this was not an age for a demand for his skills
He was loved (even a bit coddled) by his mother and father
Maria and Jose (he was an only child)
Jesus went to school in the era of No Child Left Behind Race to the Top
It was the Epoch of Testing Jesus did not do well in tests
He was pressured to read and answer quickly
He was a slow reader (he liked to ponder)
He did well in English especially Proverbs Allegories Parables
But his biggest problem was mathematics he felt he reached his limits
Newton was much smarter than me he thought
And computer skills? This was the Era of the Internet
This was not his métier his forte he got lost in spreadsheets
And virtual reality did not seem real to him
A Facebook “friend” did not seem like a real friend to him
His grades, test and SAT scores were not on a par
With many of his comrades
He did not get into a top college or even a mid-level college
He could have gone to a Community College and taken
Remedial math and statistics
But this would not have led him to anywhere he wished to go
(in fact, he had no idea where he wanted to go)
He sometimes wished he had been born a few decades earlier
He heard there were woodworking shop classes back then
He could have gone to a Vocational School back then
Become an apprentice to a carpenter
Worked for a furniture company or free-lanced
He heard there were many opportunities back then
You didn’t have to go to college in that epoch
So what to do? A clerk at Walmart? He felt the company
was unethical exploited Latino workers, etc.
A Starbucks barista? The coffee way too expensive
even Ethos Water not for the working man
(he also feared he would have trouble brewing coffee correctly,
remembering orders)
A service employee at MacDonalds? or Burger King?
(the food was poison so he believed)
What to do? Welfare was out of the question
he was white male single couldn’t he just get a job?
(and there were time limits now on public assistance no solution)
Begging on the subway? He was not a Vietnam veteran even Iraq
(he had all his limbs)
The only solution become one in the army of homeless
on Third Avenue below 14th Street
(Third Avenue becomes The Bowery at a certain point)
He laid a pallet down (of a discarded towel
with a cushion of Bounty Paper Towels)
in front of an abandoned storefront
He scrolled a message on cardboard for passers-by
My name is Jesus
Sorry to bother you
I am homeless
A quarter a nickel a dime a penny
Any amount would be deeply appreciated
A sandwich an orange peanuts or chips
May God bless you
And have a great day