I haven't been eating well lately so I decided to try out the Coffee Cup joint over on the main drag this morning. As my feet hit the sidewalk, a hunched over old man carrying a couple bags and a rolling tattered suitcase appeared.

We exchanged good mornings, and he was really soft spoken. Obviously homeless, I asked him if he ever went to the Soup Kitchen down the street, where I volunteer. I was already in a bad depressed funk, wondering when I was going to tell them it was over for me, and what he said just stunned me.

He said he stopped going because the black lady there was disrespectful! At that point we continued down the sidewalk in opposite directions, and I grabbed the nearest utility pole to keep from falling over from shock, and a loud OMFG came out of me.

The lady he referred to is my boss there. I like her a lot, and she's the point person for the dining room. She deals with everyone coming through the door, and she runs a tight ship. I've heard her chew people out if they're too demanding, but this meek old man was far from that.

Well, guess who I ran into as I rounded the corner on my way to the cafe? I asked where he was going and he said The Coffee Cup. Needless to say, I walked there with him and we had breakfast together. There's a local business that picks up his tab on occasion, but this morning it was on me.

His name is Mike, eighty years old and born here in Pensacola. I liked him a lot and we talked about life, over a pretty good breakfast. I asked if he would ever go back to the Kitchen, especially next Monday morning when I'm the point person. He said no, because he was disrespected, and respect is the only thing left that he want's out of life. omfg...