Who Is Truly Free...

I went to work today. How about you? I work Monday through Friday. I come home turn on the TV then wait for tomorrow to go to work again. But wait. I do own the TV. In fact I own a home to put it in. I also own a couple of cars to take my wife and I to work and back again. I own a big steel box to put food in (need to do something while I'm watching the TV and waiting to go back to work). When nature calls I have my pick of two small rooms for instant relief. No need to find the nearest tree. When I can stand the idiocy of TV no more I have a large cool comfortable bed to lie on and a warm loving wife to lay next to. 'Tis truly the American dream.  Today at this job I saw a woman. Not just any woman but a woman you and I may feel sorry for. She was alone and drove an old Dodge van. Peeling faded paint, rusted bumpers and filled with every possession she owned.  She pulled into the parking lot at my work parked under a tree got out and immediately walked to the trash dumpster. Looking in she gave a smile and climbed right in.  She brought out empty soda cans and plastic bottles. When she saw I was watching her she simply said hello and went back to her work. She came across a couple of boxes of old letter heads from the business next door . She asked if they belong to anyone and I told her being in the trash meant no one wanted them. She told me they were worth a lot of money at the recycle center.  With efficiency  she removed everything she thought had value. Walking quickly to her van she pulled out an old hand cart and rolled it to the dumpster. She was no invalid, she was not weak. She knew what she was doing and she did it very well. After loading her van she brought down a tired looking bike that hung on the back of her van. Squeezing the tires to check the air she actually produced a small bicycle pump from her van and put a little air into each tire. She then jumped into the passenger seat of the van and began reading some type of book.  I don't know what she did next I had to get back to "work".  I thought about her for most of the day. How tragic. How sad. When it was time to leave for the day I looked towards the tree where she had been parked but she was long gone. Driving home to my TV, I wondered if I should really feel sorry for her. She was obviously doing what she wanted to. I was going home to wait for tomorrow. Thinking about her again I have to wonder, who is truly free. Who can go where they want when they want. Not I. I have to many people and companies waiting for money. I have a promise to fulfill. To be at a certain place for a certain amount of time everyday Monday thru Friday. Of course I have gotten used to not having to find a tree every time nature calls.