Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
Speaker 1: and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
Speaker 1: from the arts to sports, and from business to history
Speaker 1: and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
Speaker 1: our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
Speaker 1: And today we bring you a story from one of
Speaker 1: our listeners in the Twin Cities. We love telling you
Speaker 1: stories of redemption. And Paul Kotts wrote the book on it. Well.
Speaker 1: He wrote a book Something Happened Today, a collection of
Speaker 1: the unexpected. The book was initially conceived by Kotts's desire
Speaker 1: to leave something inspiring for his daughters to read. The
Speaker 1: title is a suggestion to look for a miracle every day,
Speaker 1: and he's drawn from personal experience. Here's Paul.
Speaker 2: Years ago, I was working at a center for the
Speaker 2: homeless in Kansas City. Each day we would receive donations
Speaker 2: from local markets and donors to feed one hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty plus people in a place called the Family House.
Speaker 2: On a beautiful sunny Tuesday morning, a man yelled at
Speaker 2: me from across the street. Hey you, it was my
Speaker 2: turn to wash windows at the Family Center. I would
Speaker 2: put the soapy water in the bucket fill and rinse
Speaker 2: it out and use a squeegee to make the windows glisten.
Speaker 2: I turned around and there was this guy waving at
Speaker 2: me from the dumpster in plain sight. He had a
Speaker 2: salt and pepper colored beard and emotioned for me to
Speaker 2: come over. I dropped my cleaning supplies and ventured across
Speaker 2: the street to see the man. Got the time, he asked.
Speaker 2: I gave him the time, and he told me his
Speaker 2: name was Joe. Do you smoke, he asked no. I
Speaker 2: thought back to my dad, who had an air of
Speaker 2: confidence when he puffed away many times, driving his Thunderbird
Speaker 2: convertible top down and listening to his fifties and sixties music.
Speaker 2: In this case, Joe was smoking a Marlborough with deep puffs,
Speaker 2: exhaling through his nose with a purpose. His expression didn't change,
Speaker 2: but his wrinkles around the eyes exuded wear and tear,
Speaker 2: as well as his ability to smile. I have to
Speaker 2: make sure I get my stuff out of here before
Speaker 2: they throw me away, too, he laughed. I realized and
Speaker 2: fully understood what he was saying. Each Tuesday morning, early
Speaker 2: the trash compactor would come and hoist the industrial still
Speaker 2: dumpster into the air and empty the garbage and refuse
Speaker 2: from the past week. I thought about what we'd take
Speaker 2: for granted in our great country and how this type
Speaker 2: of life still exists. He went on to let me
Speaker 2: know a culinary tip too. He mentioned that he could
Speaker 2: not stand cauliflower. In addition to cleaning assignments at the shelter,
Speaker 2: we would venture to the downtown markets to catch some
Speaker 2: of the produce vendors throwing out strawberries, potatoes, onions that
Speaker 2: dreaded cauliflower, and heads of lettuce with first signs of spoiling.
Speaker 2: A Christian brother named Lewis explained to us as workers
Speaker 2: that ten percent that is the top of the crate
Speaker 2: may be spoiled, but if cleared away, ninety percent of
Speaker 2: it is beautiful fruits and vegetables. We waste a lot
Speaker 2: of food around here, he told me. While store owners
Speaker 2: and shopkeepers were not always fond of us intercepting the
Speaker 2: crates before they were tossed in the trash, but many
Speaker 2: let us know the best times to stop by to
Speaker 2: pick up the edible food before it made its way there.
Speaker 2: I noticed in the dumpster he had a rickety blanket,
Speaker 2: two small kid sized chairs, and a makeshift table. One
Speaker 2: week I watched him do it. The restaurant bar would
Speaker 2: throw empty bottles and trash and fill the dumpster most
Speaker 2: of the way, but Joe would time it perfectly, waiting
Speaker 2: for the trash truck to pick up the refuse, and
Speaker 2: then he proceeded to put his chairs and table back
Speaker 2: in for another week's worth of living. Want to play
Speaker 2: some cards, he asked me. I was kind of mesmerized
Speaker 2: by this man who seemed to just go about his
Speaker 2: business of living the streets so effortlessly. But this was
Speaker 2: a home to him, a place of comfort, protection, and
Speaker 2: possible peril if he forgot to wake up on a Tuesday. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Once I had a close call, but people check on
Speaker 2: me to make sure I get out in time. He
Speaker 2: hopped back in, arranged the chairs and table, and then
Speaker 2: so did I. We played part of a game of
Speaker 2: cribbage with pegs of popcorn kernels. You want a banana,
Speaker 2: he asked me. He pulled out what seemed like a
Speaker 2: fresh fruit, unpeeled it, and we each had a half.
Speaker 2: Here is this guy who barely had a place to live,
Speaker 2: sharing what he had with me, his new card playing buddy.
Speaker 2: It was early most of my colleagues were still asleep
Speaker 2: that morning, and I'm thinking to myself, why am I
Speaker 2: in a dumpster? I eventually returned to my window cleaning assignment.
Speaker 2: Some of your thinking, I will never have lunch or
Speaker 2: coffee with me again, and make sure I wash my hands.
Speaker 2: But for me, this was a moment of grace in
Speaker 2: my life, a wake up call and awakening to another
Speaker 2: world that I never knew nor previously wanted to see.
Speaker 2: I thought about what I would do if this were me,
Speaker 2: and how I would cope. Would I be playing cribbage,
Speaker 2: possibly drinking to avoid the pain, or maybe dead because
Speaker 2: I didn't have the stamina or the resourcefulness of Joe.
Speaker 2: I will never forget that man's generosity, who offered his
Speaker 2: temporary home, part of his sustenance, a game to play,
Speaker 2: his creative adaptation of life, and his daily appreciation of
Speaker 2: the moment.
Speaker 1: And you've been listening to Paul Kott's and what a
Speaker 1: terrific story about grace and about well learning to see
Speaker 1: what's unseen. And by the way, I love that he's
Speaker 1: written this book to inspire his daughters, because there's so
Speaker 1: little around to read to our kids that inspires them,
Speaker 1: and they're yearning for it, and they're desperate for it.
Speaker 1: We all are, and that's what we try and do.
Speaker 1: On our American Stories, Paul Cott's story and in the end,
Speaker 1: Joe's story too. Here on our American Stories. Here are
Speaker 1: to our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith,
Speaker 1: and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country that
Speaker 1: need to be told. But we can't do it without you.
Speaker 1: Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
Speaker 1: free to make. If you love our stories in America
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