A Book For Jeffrey
11/20/23
I'm thinking of renaming my blog the Jeffrey Files. Every time I think I'm done writing about him, he pops us again. This weekend I took it a step further and created a video about him. If you're not familiar with my posts about Jeffrey, just type "Jeffrey" into the Search field above and get caught up. A link to my latest video is below. Let me know how I did.
Some people are victims of bad luck, while other people create their own bad luck. Jeffrey fits into both categories. But Jeffrey has also learned how to survive his bad breaks. Between his disability payments and his side hustles, he gets by.
But the way Jeffrey figures it, he's due for some good luck. That's why he moved to Las Vegas earlier this year. It's his second time there, and, on and off, he's called Vegas home for 10 years.
Donna and I met Jeffrey in 2002 when he helped us unpack after our move to Florida. He lived in New Jersey at the time, but he lived in New York before that. Jeffrey is Darren's cousin, and Darren is, of course, Donna's ex-husband. So, he came highly recommended as a hard worker. But Darren issued a warning to us as well.
"Jeffrey is kind of a nut."
By that he meant that Jeffrey lived a different kind of lifestyle. He used to homeless. He also used to be hooked on drugs. But that was before. Now he's hooked on life. He's a very positive person, which probably explains why he moved to Las Vegas. If any place needs uplifting, it's that place. His current side hustle consists of taking Polaroid photos of the many tourists that he meets on the Strip or Freemont Street, which means he walks a lot of miles. But he's never without a smile, and he loves to make other people smile.
But the most remarkable thing about Jeffrey isn't his positive energy. It's his love for poetry, a pursuit he's managed to maintain even though he's functionally illiterate.
Functional illiteracy is defined as the inability to read and comprehend relatively short texts or understand basic vocabulary, and it affects 18% of U.S. adults (approximately 57.4 million people), most commonly impacting black people, Hispanic people, and low-income individuals. But Jeffrey hasn't let that slow him down.
In fact, when we saw him before his move to Las Vegas, he gave us pages and pages of typed poetry that he dictated to a friend. His work isn't typo-free, and he may stray from grammar conventions at times, but it's a testament to the spirit of the man.
It's ironic that his dream is to make it rich at the tables and slot machines of Vegas, when his poetry might prove to be the more profitable pursuit. Then again, how can he sell his work without jeopardizing his disability status, which has income limitations? Anyone have any ideas?
It's just one more challenge that Jeffrey faces. Donna and I will do what we can to help him publish his book of poems. But the truth is, his future will probably always be uncertain.
In the meantime, I have this message for Jeffrey: Keep generating those positive messages. I think your love of God and for helping your fellow man will be your biggest payoff in the long run.
#youcan'ttakeitwithyouanyway