Sitting down to chat with vendor Eugene McDowell
As I sat down with Eugene McDowell, I couldn’t help but smile as I noticed happiness flooding out of him and lighting up the whole room. When asked how long he has been with The Bridge, he couldn’t recall the date he first became a vendor- he had been doing it for as long as he could remember. Born and raised in Memphis, the Vietnam Veteran has always lived here between military deployments.
Eugene was raised in the church and today practices practical spirituality. I pressed him on what this meant, and he fondly answered that it was intentionality in one’s daily life. It is not so much religion as it is looking at the things you do every day and finding spirituality within them. Maybe this is where his happy personality and positive attitude is born because he is able to find the good in each little part of the day. His answer to my next inquiry went on to prove the fullness of his heart.
Sitting with Eugene, I asked what the most useful item someone could hand him would be. While food is an important necessity, it is often overlooked that it isn’t the only necessity. Many people don’t see the toothbrush they use each morning or the sanitary napkins sitting in their cabinet as a luxury, but others only get to brush their teeth when someone in a car happens to have a spare toothbrush to give out. Before I had formed the full question, he had an answer. One that he did not hesitate to produce, and one that did not speak to his needs at all. Eugene said, “it is not what people give, it is how they give it.” Fondly, he expanded, speaking of the feeling he got when he knew someone was giving because they truly wanted to. “I know that they are going to be blessed” Eugene continued, sure of the words he was speaking. I couldn’t help but think of the times I had stopped to hand someone a water bottle or a granola bar and the person had responded by telling me to have a blessed day. I realized that for Eugene, this wasn’t just that response he gave out of habit, no, he truly believes that if you give because of a good heart you will be blessed.