Where I live, November weather means it can get cold, and when it rains, there might be snowflakes mixed with the rain. We had rain, and so we had ice and snow, and that meant sensible people dressed in warm clothes and drove carefully after dark.

This happens every year and we are used to it.

When we got home from an evening shopping trip, I was looking forward to getting inside and relaxing in a warm place; but then something happened. A neighbor spoke to us over the back fence and talked about someone who was injured. He pointed to the alley behind his place.

I dropped my plans for the evening and walked to the place he pointed at, and there was a man, crying. The unhappy man had a portable canvas chair and he was slouched in it, trying to warm his bare feet. He said his feet were frozen and turning black, and he was in pain.

He was crying and begging for help from any strangers that he saw, and my neighbor came to help. He was the only one.

If that sounds strange, we have homeless people who travel through our area. They like to search in garbage cans and dumpsters to find anything useful, like bottles and cans to recycle for cash.

We all know that property like bicycles must be locked up in a safe place. Loose items disappear quickly, and possibly the portable canvas chair that the man sat in was stolen from someone’s back yard.

You probably know what this looks like where you live:

I talked to the man and my neighbor, and apparently an ambulance was on the way. Emergency services can be backed up and slow in bad weather, and after dark.

My neighbor is a good man. I know him as a sincere Christian, and he had phoned for help. After he recruited me to join him, he went into his place for some supplies. I went to my place for some socks because the man said his feet were freezing.

My neighbor outdid me. He brought out a jacket and some gloves, and a pair of boots. My small gift of socks went well with that combination.

The man was very happy with our gifts and he made himself as comfortable as he could. If you wonder, we were told not to give him food or water because that might interfere with medical treatment.

The man was injured and my guess is that he had been lifting heavy things from garbage dumpsters when he sprained himself and probably got a severe hernia.

I walked to the main road because I knew that the ambulance driver would need directions. When I saw a large vehicle with bright lights, I stood on the street and waved my arms. That vehicle was the ambulance and the driver was lost. With my directions, the driver found the injured man and thanked me for my help.

The medical people took charge of the accident scene from there, and my neighbor and I went to our homes.

So, what is the lesson for me?

That homeless man seemed harmless, but we were careful. In our neighborhood, theft and violence happen among homeless people, and there are other problems like drug dealing. The injured man was probably a drug user.

I noticed that many neighbors went past us, walking, driving, or parking their cars and no one came near us. If my Christian neighbor had not intervened, we might have found a dead body in the alley the next morning.

I hope the injured man recovers from freezing because the doctors might have to amputate frozen toes and fingers. Seriously.

It is obvious that the injured man has made some bad choices in his life, and if he continues with his lifestyle, he probably will probably end up dead in an alley, somewhere and maybe soon.

My neighbor and I could only intervene and help when the problems became deadly, and when the man collapsed near us.

In our region, the authorities find almost five hundred dead bodies every winter. I have seen others, in emergency facilities, seated in wheelchairs with their lower legs amputated. I once drove past a homeless tent camp and one man, apparently living in a tent, was in a wheel chair with his lower legs amputated.

The lesson is; human beings make bad choices, and bad choices lead to sad endings. Crouching and crying in an alley is a terrible way to go.

When I read news articles about the homeless crisis, there is usually a guilt message. Somehow we are not doing enough to help homeless people. That may be true in some instances, but the crisis that I see is our terrible personal choices.

“Personal” choices are made by me and you, and not just by homeless drug addicts. It is easy to see a human problem in the problems of a few.

That man did not choose this end, crouching injured and frozen in a dark alley, begging any stranger to help. In my experience, the choices at the beginning of the journey are easy, and seem almost harmless.

I don’t wish for that harm on another person, but there is a valuable lesson in the end of the journey. We are told “It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because sober reflection is good for the heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7: 2 and 3)

It’s not us-and-them, this is a picture of us. I was not in the same condition as the injured man, but I share the same humanity.

Our human choices are described in this way: “Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!” (Matthew 7:13 and 14).

I think the injured man in the alley would agree with that.

I also think my kind neighbor made a life choice to travel on the narrow road.

I hope we can all learn from this.