In case you've been away from the news lately, he's the man who was homeless as recently as a few days ago. A news videographer saw him panhandling, took the time to speak with him and almost miraculously, he's now off the streets, has a voiceover job, many OTHER job offers and has reconnected with his mother after ten years with no contact.
My sister, who works with the homeless on a daily basis, is understandably sceptical. She knows that many of the men who leave the streets often return months or even years later. She says it's a part of them. I agree, it probably is. I've never been where they are, so I can only believe what she tells me and what I've heard elsewhere. The chances aren't often very good.
I, however, am choosing to be optimistic about this situation. Maybe Ted can be THE one who makes it. If he does, others can look at him and think that maybe THEY can too. Ted says he's been sober for two years, and even as he was talking on TV today, saying all the right things, you could watch his mother's face, knowing that she was thinking about all the times he said those same words to her many times before and never following through. He said he'd come to visit her. He never did. There were many things he never did.
I want to believe that he IS clean and sober. I want to believe that this man could be a shining testament to others who think that walking away from the streets is impossible. He said he wants to get a sponsor "here", and one can only assume that means in NY where he's already done a voiceover for the Kraft company. He says that the pressure of everything will likely get to him and he will need help getting through it all. I also hope that means that he HAS been going to AA or NA and had a sponsor back in Ohio.
Ted Williams could be one of the few success stories. I pray for him and his family. I pray that his mother, who's 90 years old, will have time with her son as the man she wants him to be, not the man he's been these past years.
The next time you see a homeless person, remember Ted Williams. You don't know why that person is on the streets. Maybe he's looking for that person who takes two minutes to talk with him and find out that there's a real person under the dirt and smelly clothes. Ted isn't the only one out there looking for a break.
Smile. Say hello. You don't know who you could really be talking to.
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