Ask Aaron...
Sometimes really bad things happen.
For example, sometimes we are burdened with an illness
that "comes to stay" and "takes us out of life's game".
Aaron experienced it and I watched it happen.
At 17, Schizophrenia came to stay.
It happened right after
his mother was killed by a car.
Jon, (Right picuture/the stocky boy on the left), Aaron's childhood friend,
took his 16th birthday money and rented a cabin for the weekend.
Then, he asked Aaron to join him for a couple days.
That experience was an ending. Jon never saw Aaron again.
Upper Left Picture: Joe and I took Aaron fishing.
Upper Right picture: Aaron works on a small boat engine.
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And, sometimes “bad stuff" really does exist.
Sometimes the worst event we can think of…happens.
Sometimes the most damaging result…occurs.
And, we stand looking on with shock and frozen feet.
Then, we try to forget about it as quickly as possible.
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Lower two Pictures show Aaron working on the roof.
Sometimes people hurt but then it doesn't go away.
Aaron was an immature 17 year old young man
who was suddenly alone, afraid and confused.
When he asked me for help, I said "Yes, I will".
It was Winter when he needed food. I went with him to a local food pantry, found the door locked and pressed their intercom button at the door. A voice said we couldn't come in until we got a slip of paper verifying "his need" from another agency several blocks away. Aaron didn't want to knock at any more locked doors so we left.
When Aaron "got fed up" with his inner voices, I went with him to The Mental Health Center. We filled out all their forms and talked with one of their counselors. We were told he couldn't see a doctor or get medication until he completed six weeks of counseling with one of their staff. Aaron and I saw the humor of the tragic situation and we left.
I went with Aaron to "sign himself" into the hospital. On the third day, he wanted out. He called his mother's ex-husband. The ex-husband's wife came to the hospital, assured the hospital staff that she would care of him, signed him out and dropped him off "on the streets" three blocks from the hospital.
Community help that did give Aaron some relief came from a youth service agency. After several weeks, Aaron got a free apartment. He lived there for three months with his inner voices and strange mental trips that happened after his apartment door was closed and locked. No medications, no treatment and no counselor ever came to visit. He was eventually evicted since he showed no effort to work or attend agency meetings.
Aaron left town after a fight with his mother's ex-husband. It was during that visit when he got his "black eye". He came back to Springfield a couple years later to look again for three days and then returned to North Carolina. He was now a man. He was still ill. He was now a vagrant.
And, so we end Aaron’s story and we ask the question,
“If God has his eye on every Sparrow,
why are some of his birds lying along the side of the road?”
Should we leave all of God's work in His hands?
If you say “yes”, I’ll tell you that for the seven months
after his mother's death
he received only $200. of his $1400. survivors benefits.
His relatives kept the rest.
Today Aaron is a man who walks the streets of
Ashville, North Carolina
with only his inner voices to keep him company.
Today he is one of those vagrants we see on the street.
He is one of those people we distance ourselves from.
He is one of those lost souls we fear.
Let us pray that we won't be struck by such an illness.
And, if we were, let us hope a cure will be found.
Until then, let us hope for services that really work
and a caring treatment facility for those who need it.
Let us pray that others will care more
than we did for Aaron.
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But, if you can tolerate a bit more, maybe you will listen his childhood voice as he met another closed door.
Click these words, listen to Aaron and then you can go home.
It's time to go home.
Just click these words and you'll be gone.