Check Out My Stimulus Package

Sports talk radio personality, Dan Patrick, coined a clever observation several years ago while working as an ESPN Sportcenter anchor. Whenever Patrick would report news of athletes injuries, he would invariably come across one less severely injured athlete that was listed on the injury report as simply "day to day". Patrick would respond by commenting, "well, aren't we all" - day to day, that is.

Patrick's wisdom came to mind this morning while I was tending the orange juice (actually, it was Tang) station at Grace Lutheran Church in Phoenix, where my daughter and I served as volunteers to help gift a pancake and sausage breakfast to the homeless.

When we arrived at 6:30 to begin setup and food preparations, there were already about a dozen people outside the door waiting to be fed, weathering an uncharacteristic Phoenix rain drizzle, even though the doors would not swing wide until 7:30. Typically the Sunday breakfast and worship at Grace yields about 450 hungry bellies.

A few weeks ago I was laid off from my job, and the subsequent days since have been an interesting mix of networking, emailing resumes, phone calls and rhetorical navigation into hiring recruiters dead-ends. While my spirits remain buoyed and confident, I must admit that the I've reached a near panic attack on more than a few occasions when my days work, of finding work, ends with bleak results. I'm scared.

Today, though, came a much needed dose of perspective. You might say I received my very own stimulus package.

I have nothing at all to whine about. In fact, lest you believe that this post is about to take a sudden turn towards the cliche of a "there by the grace of God I go" story, I can assure you that there is no way, no matter how bad things get for me, I will ever be so unfortunate as to be alone and homeless, standing in the rain to wait for pancakes and sausage.

I'm blessed with so much that is not material and can't be commoditized or financially inventoried. Aside from our own resources, Mrs. Fischer and I have massive families that we could lean on if we were ever to get to the point where the roof that covers are head were to collapse. The mere thought of the love and support that surrounds us is entirely humbling.

I'm pretty sure that the masses I served Tang to this morning aren't nearly as fortunate. As the steady stream of patrons shuffled with their food plates towards me so I could hand them a glass of juice, I made my best conscious effort to look each person in the eye and greet them individually.

"Good morning", I said, "thanks for coming today".

Most would simply nod there head, with an occasional few requesting me to fill their thermos with a day or two worth of nectar. One person, however, caught me off guard with an enthusiastic greeting of his own.

"Hello, sir", the wide smile man noted, "how you doin' today?"

A bit surprised, I responded with a succinct, "I'm doing very well. Thank you for asking."

The man was long gone before "thank you for asking" left my lips. What a stupid goddamn answer to his rhetorical question, I immediately thought. I mean, of course I was doing well. In fact, very well by most standards, and astronomically well compared to the man that asked me the question, I would presume. I felt like a total dick.

So I reached an accord with myself that if somebody else were to ask me how I was doing, I'd be damn well prepared with a better answer. About five minutes later, my moment arrived. An older man approached, well worn and broken, although in a most endearing of ways, like a pair of denim jeans that may be battered and torn, however still hold a tough and dignified veneer.

He looked at me with a toothy grin. "Well, well, well. How you doin' tahday, yun man?" (editors note: I'm really not so young)

"Grateful to be here", was my reply.

The man stopped in his tracks. "Really? Meeeee too", he said with full confidence. "Well, looks like me and you gots somethin in common. God bless."

It all lasted less than ten seconds. Two men, bonded only by sentiment, yet with vastly different circumstance.

The rest of my day was the best I've enjoyed in a long while, and the man that brought it outta me lives day to day somewhere - everywhere, really - in the streets of Phoenix.

Day to day. Aren't we all?