Reflections - "Help Me"

George Vlahos
On a clear, crisp and cool early Wednesday spring evening in Chicago, standing in front of the Roosevelt University on Michigan Ave., overlooking the beam in Millennium Park, watching as cars go back and forth and observing as people walk to their next destination after a days’ work.

The deafening noise of car engines going north and south could be heard along with the shuffling of peoples feet as they casually conversed with one another.

At the corner of Michigan and Monroe, a middle-aged man kneeling, holding a cardboard sign written with a black marker with his eyes fixated on the ground, heard the gentle pitter-patter of shoes as they hit the ground.

He could not see it, but no one who passed him by gave him even the slightest bit of attention. The sign read Help me, just hungry. No one helped him.