The story of Richard Leroy Walters was mentioned in an article I found on npr.org here's the actual link for the article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111091624
I found his story compelling in the sense that here was a homeless guy who had an estate estimated to be $4 million dollars and he basically lived like a hobo. He died 2 years ago and donated a substantial amount of money to NPR. He never married, nor did he have any children. Yet who is to say he didn't live as he wished to live or that he was happy. I don't see Walter's as having a sad or misfortune life.
There are people for whatever choose to live off the grid so to speak, or without the trappings of a cluttered material life. Not everyone wants to find a special someone or eat the roast beef on Sundays with wife, kid(s) and dog. For some such a life really holds no substance or meaning. I know it maybe hard for many of us to understand how someone like Walters could live as he did, but far too many of us assume that marriage and kids equals happiness and a meaningful life. This is not necessarily so. A meaningful life is living according to your own terms, not living for someone else's concept of happiness. As far as kids are concerned, well too many irresponsible people are having kids which invariably society ends up paying for anyway. It's not a venture that people ought to go into without thinking, yet most people do.
There are very few people like Richard Walters presently in this world and if the article on npr.org can attest, he was certainly a very unique and special person. I wonder how many people with similar backgrounds are passed by on the street without any consideration to their humanity? That part is sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment