The Pursuit of Happiness (Patrick Kane)

|Sixteen|

Patrick

Today was going to be a big day of learning for me. As a part of Kayleigh's studies she is going to a homeless shelter and talking to the people who work and go there. This is the last project she has before she graduates at the end of this semester and then there's no telling what she's going to do. There is no limit to the things she will accomplish, not for someone with the amount of power and determination she had. By the end of this month she will be walking across the stage and into a future only she can create.

And she was nice enough to let me tag along for the day and come visit the homeless shelter with her. I've done some charity things through the blackhawks but I've never done something like this on my own. This city has given me the world, even if it doesn't feel like home to me this is the greatest city I've been a part of and I do love this place. I think it's about time I try and help the city out as much as they have helped me grow into this star player.

So I pull on a Blackhawks jacket and meet Kayleigh at the center. She was dressed in all black which really should have been illegal to be looking that good. I pull her into a soft kiss as she smiles up at me.

"You ready" she asks.

"I feel like I'm not but that's why I'm here" I assure her.

We walk in and head straight to the front desk. Honestly the place wasn't that awful looking but it could use a few touch ups and something to make this place seem less... sad. Kayleigh finds whoever it was she had been in contact with and they give us a tour. We see the rooms they stay in, where they eat and shower and everything else.

And as I look around I noticed something scary, there was kids in here. Children who were malnourished and weak and sick and they had nowhere else to go. I stop walking as I see a kid helping another kid a little younger than him eat. I feel my heart break as these children fight to go on.

"You okay" Kayleigh asks as she starts to rub my back. I shake my head as I turn to her trying not to cry.

"I don't know what I was expecting to see today, but this want it" I admit.

"Homeless shelters aren't where crazy people who yell at the sky come. These are real people who are trying to do better. The people here all have to apply for jobs and help out around here in order to stay, they can't just crash here for free. Peoples stereotypes about homeless people is limited to what they see when they're driving around the streets of Chicago in movies. But these kids aren't to blame, the women who leave abusive relationships aren't to blame. We are to blame for letting these people down because we care about ourselves more than anything.

If this was you having to stay here because this is the closest thing you have to a home, wouldn't want someone to help" she questions.

"I would" I admit.

"So let's help them then" she insists.

"What can we do? We're just two people" I remind her.

"When I graduate I want to get proper funding for places like this, Chicago is full of them. These shelters are receiving less and less money as more and more people run out of options and coming here. I want to get them all three meals available and clothes for them to go to their interview in so they can get the job. Something for these people to know that we haven't given up on them" she explains.

"How can you get the government to fix something they blatantly ignore" I wonder.

"Just because you don't see it, doesn't means it's not happening. We can't always see the sun but it's always there. And just because we don't see the homeless, the hurt, the broken, it doesn't mean that they're not there. They are and they are right under your nose, we just chose not to see it because it makes us feel bad. If we can bring attention to places like this, if we can show how easy it would be to get these people back on their feet and into the economy again people will realize by helping them they can help themselves too. People just refuse to believe that doing something out of the kindness of their hearts is good for everyone around them. But I would rather feel bad about the truth than live in a lie, wouldn't you" she asks.