CityOfAngels

Disclaimer: Whenever you see me quoting the man who is the subject of this thread, I am paraphrasing.

I was going about my day, listening to my iPod, submitting an invoice to my old job, and on the way back I picked up some Del Taco. Walking home, listening to one of my favorite songs, I see a man in front of me. He said something to me so I took the headphones out of my ears and asked him to repeat himself. He asked what I had in the bag to eat, so I gave him my Macho Chicken Burrito and a few packets of Del Scorcho, and just as I was about to say, "alright, man, have a good one," he decided to tell me that he's a Desert Storm veteran. I wasn't really doing anything so I decided to stick around and hear what he had to say.

He told me the specifics of where he was working while serving our country, said some numbers that could've been regiment numbers or maybe his army identification numbers; going into detail where as I was trying to pay attention as much as I could, being that I'm deaf in my left ear. As he was talking, he would occasionally stop, and then go on with words as if he was still talking. For example (and this is a fictional example): If he said, "Apples are apples, oranges are oranges" it would've sounded like, "Apples are apples...oranges." I figured he had a few loose wires, but he didn't seem threatening at all, and he had a look on his face as if he had something really really important and deep to tell me, so I still listened as best as I could.

He went on to tell me that he worked on laser-guided missile systems, doing technical work for the army, etc. etc., and he said, "Well look where I am now. I'm a scientist, and now I have to beg." He said that where he worked, EVERYONE had a gun on them at all times, as if something odd was going on at that place. He'd trail around different points, making the conversation sound like a bunch of unrelated statements, but I was getting the jist of what he was saying. He told me that when he was "released" (he used the word released as if he was being released from a prison), they injected him in the left side of the neck (he was pointing so it could've been his back or whatnot) with "something" (he didn't know what they injected him with) to make it so he can't tell anyone about the things he saw. He said he remembered everything clear as day, but...again he stopped talking, once in awhile saying words that sounded unrelated but could possibly have been part of one sentence that he was trying to complete.

He told me that now he has "some lady" drive him around gang neighborhoods, and that he gives talks wherever he can, trying to encourage positive development within those communities. One thing he told me that he tells gang-members was, "You're not in a gang. Stop calling yourselves gang-bangers. You're a part of an organization. Any time there is money involved, deals being made, it is an organization. This isn't your family; it is a company you work for." I guess his point was that gang members feel attached to their sets because everything is taken so personally, but just like any business, the "organization" doesn't really care about you. It's just there to make money.

One thing that caught me off-guard was when he asked me, "You heard of Stargate?" I was gonna say, "That movie?" but I didn't, because this whole time I've been listening to him, taking him as seriously as I can out of respect, and for him to start talking about movies? Naw, it couldn't be. But sure enough, he said, "You know, that show? It's real." Of course my response was, "huh?" He said, "That's why we're in Iraq. That's why our government has tried so hard to get us on their side for a war that seems so pointless. The crystal is in Babylon. Where do you think all the indians went? I'm telling you, it's true." To tell the truth, I never payed any attention to the movie or the show, so I had no idea what he was talking about. It was hard for me to take him seriously after that, but I was still trying my best to. Later on in the conversation he went on to say that Mexico has "the crystal" too.

Out of nowhere, he recommended two books for me to read:
* Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper and
* Genesis Revisited by Zecharia Sitchin.
While he was telling me all this, I said to him: "I can't say I believe you, but I can't say I don't either." He said to me, "Don't believe me. Don't believe anyone. Don't believe anything unless you see it for yourself."

I dunno; it's hard for me to describe this conversation because it was hard for me to fully understand him. He wasn't slurring his words, and he wasn't drunk, but as I said sometimes he'd trail off to a new topic before revisiting an old one, or sometimes he'll do that thing where he stops talking and then says words that could either be random or part of a sentence he was trying to complete. One of the last things he told me was that Ronald Reagan issued a report of some sorts, stating that our country needs to start getting prepared for some sort of alien invasion. He said that Reagan's alzheimers wasn't really alzheimers; "they turned his brain to jelly." Whoever "they" are, I assumed he meant the behind-the-scenes government officials, who in our eyes don't exist, but they really control everything.

Was this man crazy?
Was he telling the truth?
Truthfully, I don't know.
But the last thing he said to me hit hard.

During the course of the conversation, we came back to gangs. He said he doesn't know what color he's supposed to be wearing in what areas; he's gotten jumped numerous times just because of that. He said he gets it from all races; mostly whites AND blacks, and then hispanics. He stated again how they're criminal organizations, working for an illegal profit. I told him, "Well what do you think a country is?" We both said at the same time, "It's just a huge gang." I said, "We need a revolution." He said, "Yeah it's comin'. When all the people of the earth unite; all races, all nationalities."

I was amazed. That's what's been in my head all along; in order to have peace within' our own countries, our own lives, we must unite. Some sort of World Treaty that would not only keep everyone from warring with each other, but bring them together as brothers and sisters. A united world as one people: humanity. Amidst this guy's "crazy talk," he had a message that related to a true problem. And I say crazy talk as in what a person without patience to listen and analyze would think about it. I would've found it funny that he asked for a dollar if he wasn't so poor that he had to. That's because I completely forgot he was homeless; I saw him as a true person, trying to convey a message to me. And suddenly this man's asking for a "spare buck" surprised me, reminding me of our brutal class system.

I gave him a five. No not a hand-five but five dollars. I'm poor, too; can't be handing out twenties. But I wish I could. I wish I could hand out billions to bring the world together, and it hurts knowing that people can, but they decide not to.

So what do you think? "Crazy talk" or possibility. I'll stick with his suggestion: "Don't believe me. Don't believe anyone. Don't believe anything unless you see it for yourself."

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The words "love" and "life" go together. It is almost as if they are one. You must love to live, and you must live to love, or you have never lived nor loved at all.