Homeless Sioux Falls Man Changed My Perspective of My Job Forever

I know how blessed I am to have a job that I love, working with a person who is still the funniest human I've yet to encounter and who has become family to me. Do we work hard? That is a difficult question to answer. We work long hours sometimes, but it is mostly brain work. It can be stressful, but not nearly as stressful as many, many other jobs.

It is not hard physically. Standing on your feet 8 hours a day waiting tables or checking out shoppers, working construction, road work or numerous other jobs are much more taxing, physically. But the work we do is demanding at times, isn't for everyone and does take a certain skill-set, aptitude, chemistry and communication to accomplish.

Everyone in the working universe wonders if their job matters, if it makes a difference in the world other than supporting a family or themselves. Not everyone who is employed sees the results of their labor directly and that is the way it is in radio. You're never quite sure if what you do impacts anyone in any substantial way whatsoever.

And then an unexpected encounter changes your perspective. I met a man at a live broadcast over the weekend. He was slender (too slender), polite, neatly dressed in a clean dark t-shirt, jeans and boots and when he hugged me he smelled wonderful! (Yes, I still notice those things about guys, I'm not dead you know!) He had sad eyes and a devastating story.

This soft-spoken man had been in broadcasting many years ago in northern Minnesota. He was married for 31 years and was a stay-at-home dad for twelve of them. Now divorced and estranged from his children, he lives alone, in his car- -here in Sioux Falls. He has severe issues with diabetes, has lost his teeth and suffers from painful diabetic neuropathy in his feet. He has applied for assistance but is without much help at the present time. What his other issues are, I don't know, but truly seems to be a person who has slipped through the cracks in our social support systems.

He conveyed to me that he had been a long-time listener and that now the thing which still gives him hope and keeps him going, is listening to our show everyday! I broke into tears and he apologized saying that he just wanted me to know how important what we did was to him and other people. I was completely stunned and humbled by this encounter and always will be.