The Street Person Who Became An Artist by Joanne Morris Okano

     There was a street person who lived from day to day not knowing what life would bring.  It was a struggle just to get his meals.  Life had  dealt him some hard blows and he hurt too much to know what to do with his time other than sit at the side of the road and beg.  No one believed in him it seemed and no, even he himself didn't believe in him, not that that made any difference it seemed, life just went on around him.  People with important looking errands rushed by him all day long.  Sometimes someone kind would stop for a chat and those who could donated him a dollar.  But what he liked best were the turkey dinners at Christmas and Thanksgiving when he would go the the soup kitchen with the other street people and line up to get a meal.  He enjoyed the meals so much.  He talked to his friends and enjoyed the kindness and joy he felt at feeling loved.

  Now, there is an English game I like to play called "Pass The Parcel".  It is played at children's parties.  The mother buys several small gifts and some wrapping paper and wraps the gifts up in layers in one big parcel before the party.  The children pass the parcel around the circle to music and the mother stops the music occasionally.  Whoever is holding the parcel at the moment the music stops gets to open a layer of the parcel and receive a gift!  When the music resumes playing, the parcel is passed on to the next person and so on.

     I used to think that "Pass The Parcel" is not much like life, but now that I have lived longer and I see the unexpected blessings that life brings, I think that "Pass The Parcel" is actually, on the contrary, quite like life.

     Back to the story, someone kind had donated money for apartments to be built for the homeless.  The apartments were finished and the homelss moved in, including this man we have been discussing.  He couldn't believe how wonderful his life was all of a sudden.   It was like "Pass The Parcel".

     "I'd better have a real job," he decided.  He had always admired the art in the window of the art gallery on the corner and so he decided he would become an artist.  He felt so excited. 
     "I will believe in myself and I will be good at art and people will buy my art," he said to himself with wonder.
    
     And can you guess what happened?  It was like a prayer and God heard his prayer and He made it come true.  And the man lived happily ever after.

THE END