Meet Walter Pope. he currently calls Nashville home.
"Where do you live," I asked. "Here and there," he said with a slight grin. "Where ya from originally," I inquired further. "I'm from Crockett County, near Memphis," he replied.
Mr. Pope told me that he is 63-years old.
"You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life." - Albert Camus
He lives on the streets of Nashville and is 36-years old. When asked what placed him on the streets he paused, took a breath and then told me about the mother of his daughter. He told me that she died and between her death, medical bills and life, he could not afford what many of us would refer to as a regular life in a home or apartment.
Prior to living in Nashville, he lived in Little Rock, Arkansas. He accepted a job selling magazines which brought him to Nashville. The company failed to pay him for his efforts so instead of being on the streets of Little Rock, he is now on the streets of Nashville.
“Where are you living,” I asked. He then told me that he sleeps on cardboard in different areas with his girlfriend. The two support each other enough to purchase food, but that’s about all they can currently afford.
“All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.” - Helen Keller
What is the definition of a hero? Good question. The Webster Dictionary defines a hero as “A person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.”
Today I met 24 year old Benito Cabrera, who is a graduate of Siegel High School in Murfreesboro, TN. He told me that he will be donating his kidney to his younger sister Jasmine Goolesby on May 17, 2016. Evidently, other family members and friends were not a match.
Cabrera stated, “I’ll be donating my kidney to my sister and helping her enjoy her young life. She’s 23 years old. Everywhere she goes people talk to her and ask her about her sickness. She’s real open about it. She’s really happy as a person, even to this day. She is also doing dialysis three times a week, about 6 to 7 hours a day, but somehow works around it working 40 plus hours a week.”
As the kidney donation date nears, Cabrera and his sister are trying to raise enough money to cover expenses while in the hospital and while in recovery and unable to work. If you want to help, visit GofundMe.com/jewfz82c.
I would say that Benito Cabrera matches the definition of a hero.
In 1959 four doctors founded the Old South Pittsburgh Hospital in the hills of South Pittsburgh, Tennessee. The medical facility met the surgery needs of the community and even had a small wing for mental patients.
Some report the hospital is haunted due to the many deaths that occurred in the block and concrete structure over the years. As with any medical facility, some of those deaths involved children, adults, car wreck victims, etc. Wrongful death suits were filed in several cases, but that was not believed the reason for the hospital closing their doors to patients in 1998.
Due to a brand new hospital opening in a nearby city, the Old South Pittsburgh Hospital could no longer stay in the black.
Prior to the hospital being constructed, the land that the facility sits on was once a large southern plantation. A fire in the 1920’s destroyed the plantation home which reportedly left 7 children dead, according to the Old South Pittsburgh Hospital Ghost Hunters.
Today, the former hospital has been labeled as one of the most haunted places in Tennessee. To answer your question, no… I did not feel as if it was haunted. But, maybe I refuse to think such a structure could be haunted and therefore failed to see what others have claimed to see.
It was a good night. Or, Mack the Knife struck again.
Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it, ah, out of sight
Ya know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, oh, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there's never, never a trace of red
Now on the sidewalk, huh, huh, whoo sunny morning, un huh
Lies a body just oozin' life, eek
And someone's sneakin' 'round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?
- Bobby Darin, "Mack the Knife" 1959 (My favorite version).
- Louis Armstrong sang the song in 1956.
But, the song came first in 1929. It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.
More details? "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera.
She was working hard to make a sale. Everyone she saw with blonde hair or a fair complexion was a target to buy a hand carved whistle. She had an entire basket of whistles that she would blow from time to time to attract attention of prospects.
“I made these,” she said in a thick accent on the streets of Masaya, Nicaragua. Each of the whistles was delicately painted, no two looked alike.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” - Thomas A. Edison
He was singing his heart out in downtown Nashville.
“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” ― Albert Einstein
I asked him about the tattoo under his left eye and he laughed a little before saying, “Growing up, a lot of my friends were black and my mom use to always call me Moon Cricket, which is derogatory, so one night I got the tattoo of a moon just to show mom.”
The term moon cricket came about during slave times. When African American slaves finished doing their daily chores or work on the farm, they would often go outside and sing under the moonlight. Some say they sang like crickets under the moon. Thus the term moon crickets.
He told me, “We are headed to Colorado by train, they have the best weed, medical grade.”
It is always interesting, the people who look as if they could be the darkest or scariest always have a soft side if you catch them in the moment.
The lights of downtown Nashville lit his face as he played with the puppy. “We just got to Nashville from Indiana,” he told me. “We love Nashville,” talking about himself, the puppy and his girlfriend. "We hop trains," he told me with a smile.
“A tattoo is a true poetic creation, and is always more than meets the eye. As a tattoo is grounded on living skin, so its essence emotes a poignancy unique to the mortal human condition.” ― V. Vale
On a Costa Rican farm.
“Good farmers, who take seriously their duties as stewards of Creation and of their land's inheritors, contribute to the welfare of society in more ways than society usually acknowledges, or even knows. These farmers produce valuable goods, of course; but they also conserve soil, they conserve water, they conserve wildlife, they conserve open space, they conserve scenery.” ― Wendell Berry
Laguna de Apoyo in Nicaragua… This was once an active volcano thousands of years ago, but it blew its top, literally. It is now a Laguna or what Americans would call a crater lake.
In 1991, this beautiful landscape was categorized as a nature reserve, which means it is protected land.
She was maybe 13 years old at the most and she loved art. Quietly, she would find somewhere in the shade to sit and weave grasshoppers, hearts, crowns, and more with dried strands of coconut palm fronds. A frond is the leaf like section of a palm or similar plant.
She was a master at weaving the long leaves into shapes of all sizes. She never asked for a single penny, but instead picked out women passing by to hand them to as a decoration for their hair or shirt. She would hand them her creation with a huge smile.
Hard work in Costa Rica.
"All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today." - Pope Paul VI
She was quietly playing in a small alley as her parents were working hard to make a living for the young family. Her mother and father were selling good in the market while their daughter kept busy.
"There is no substitute for hard work." - Thomas A. Edison
He was one of the kindest men that I met in Nicaragua. He spoke of a love for his country, but only a growl for the government. He spoke highly of his family that he works hard to support in the grueling sun, but poorly about the Nicaraguan military that gives many a hard time.
In his right hand are pens with covers on each one that read “Nicaragua.” He sells these pens day after day at the border and uses the money he earns to feed his wife and children.
As he talked I could not help but to think of him as being highly educated in an uneducated country. He knew English well and could carry on a full conversation in both Spanish and English. He talked to me for about 45-minutes about his country, the border patrol and never asked for a penny. He would pause from time to time to sell one of his handmade pen covers and pens to a passing tourist, but he was still focused on our conversation.
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain
She had a scar that ran down her forehead to the left side of her nose. I did not dare ask why, but could not help but to be curious. The lines on her face were deep and her hair white. She quietly walked through a busy market asking passerby’s for money. I had already spent my last three dollars on corn cookies, so I had nothing to spare. She pleaded with me in Spanish to hand her whatever I had. I patted her on the back and had to walk away.
In 2009 the World Bank reported that Nicaragua was the poorest mainland country in Central America. It is a title that Nicaragua has yet to get away from as it was reported again in 2015 by the BBC. If you travel offshore and include all Latin American Countries, Haiti ranks number one as the poorest, followed by Nicaragua.
Nicaragua has been through civil wars, overzealous dictatorship and hurricanes that left thousands dead in 1998 and 2007, just to name a few of the uphill battles that residents have faced over the years. 75.8% of Nicaraguans survive on less than $2 per day. Numbers like that leave children venerable to death, disease and malnutrition.
Five of the country’s 17 departments (similar to states) have chronic malnutrition rates of more than 30%, and the rate exceeds 50% in the regions where most of Nicaragua’s indigenous people live. To make matters worse, many residents don’t understand good nutrition. The government actually encourages families to pull children out of school to help with agriculture. More than 500,000 children in the country do not attend school and 21% of those who do give school a try, drop out before the end of the first grade. Only 40% of children enroll in high school and of that number, on 40% graduate.
He lost his wife in 1999 due to complications caused by diabetes. Today, he is on his own and living by himself in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He scoots around town on his motorized chair and manages to make it to the library, the Journey Home and multiple other stops on a daily basis.
He has a prosthetic leg, but is in need of a new one. His insurance will cover 80% of the costs, but needs help paying for the remaining 20% difference. That difference will be between $200 and $400.
Last year he was able to come up with enough money to buy an inexpensive leg, but it is uncomfortable and does not fit properly. He earned the money to pay for it by selling personal items on the local square. Some folks simply gave him a few dollars, while others bought his personal goods.
The Costa Rica landscape is comparable to no other. Years ago earthquakes, flooding and volcanoes shaped the land to what you will see today when visiting.
Fast flowing rivers, beautiful waterfalls, active volcanoes, massive craters are all over the 19,730 square mile country that is filled with a relatively small population of about 4.8 million residents.
Some of the beaches have white sand while others are black mixed with speckles of white. Monkeys swing from tree to tree while iguana’s lounge around waiting for an unsuspecting bug to cross their path.
"All trails seem to lead to waterfalls, misty crater lakes or jungle-fringed, deserted beaches. Explored by horseback, foot or kayak, Costa Rica is a tropical choose-your-own-adventure land." -Lonely Planet
He was sitting beneath a tree outside a marketplace in Masaya, Nicaragua. The bag in front of him contained a cure all miracle cream of sorts that he was trying to sell all day. He needed a break under a shade tree, but he continued to ask passerby’s if they would like to try a sample.
His hands showed signs of a hard worker while the lines on his face clearly told me that he has spent many days in the hot sun.
Masaya, Nicaragua is an interesting area as it is filled with artist who sell their work in craft shops, make shift art studios and more. Plus, it is home to a wild mixture of culinary cuisines.
Some of the fine foods that locals can dine on prior to giving up meat for Lent as many do, include Iguana and Armadillo.
According to a 2013 article in The Huffington Post, “Catholics tired of fish on Friday can enjoy a Lent-friendly smorgasbord in Nicaragua, where soups made with iguana or armadillo are served with a healthy portion of bull testicles.”
I think I will pass. While in Masaya I picked the chicken shish kabobs served with rice. I think that was a wise choice.
With the smile you would think he has the best thing to sell since sliced bread… he was selling magnet’s similar to the magnet’s you find at museum’s all over America that kids play with. In Nicaragua, that is a pretty cool item for kids to play with. So, he was selling the best thing since sliced bread in his third world environment that he calls home.
My hat is off to him for finding an honest way to make a living in a unique environment with a hard to find item.
"Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman - not the attitude of the prospect." -W. Clement Stone
