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Mr. Olson, our Synergy Applied Skills teacher, had taught us how to knit. First scarves last year, and now tuques this year. We even learned to crochet shopping bags (although indecent as bags they were.) The credit cannot all be given to him however since it was the clever minds of us students that enabled everyone to complete the assignment. He taught perhaps two or three people and that spread through the entire class of thirty. Astonishing how much teamwork can do, isn't it?
So on April 4th, 2010, I equipped everyone one of my five tuques with a message, a granola bar, and a pack of orange juice all wrapped tightly by a rubber band. I didn't expect a single one to be accepted by the homeless of Downtown Vancouver.
To be honest, at the start of this unit, I found knitting to be a mindless chores consisting of using your hands until they ached. I'm not entirely convinced that that isn't true, but I have discovered that if you do something for the right reasons, it really leaves you with a bubbly feeling inside.
That afternoon, my brother accompanied me downtown in order to hand out the tuque packages. We took the skytrain all the way down to waterfront. We figured that we'd go to waterfront and walk back up to the Vancouver City Centre station.
Immediately, a homeless man was evident outside of the building. I went up nervously, not used to approaching strangers. However, he was nice when I actually went up to talk to him and he accepted my gift and even took a photo with me with a smile. I was surprised. It completely shattered my image of the homeless being bitter and resentful of those who weren't homeless.
We walked further up the street and immediately found another man. I was absolutely amazed when he put on my tuque on right after I gave it to him. It was completely unexpected. I never thought much of my handiwork on these tuques, never expected anyone to actually like wearing it. It made me happy. Whether it was from a feeling of accomplishment or simply the feeling of helping someone out when they needed it, it made me happy. And I suppose that's something not everyone will feel in their lifetime.
Unfortunately, I was unable to hand out any more that day due to the fact that I wasn't able to get to any of the homeless that weren't already preoccupied. I simply threw the tuques into a donation bin. I have absolutely no idea if anyone will receive these three tuques I just threw in (without a bag although it clearly says "in bags please"; I apologize for this little mishap.)
You may deem it unsuccessful that I was unable to hand out all the tuques to the homeless. However, I have both gained and learned something. I have learned that the homeless aren't always so bitter and aren't unkind. I have also learned that if you have the right attitude, you can do things you deemed were impossible before (unless it is physically impossible then you really can't do it.)
Helping people is a virtue. It's something good you could say. Yet I wasn't feeling like I did something good when I gave out these tuques. I felt happy. I felt like this was a natural thing to do and the appreciation only added to that.
It's nothing big.
It's nothing life-changing.
But it made me happy.
And that's all that really matters, right?
