I was going to meet up with my family at a big mall in my town on a cold winterday and I was a bit early, so bought a two bottles of soda from the grocery store and then went and sat down on a bench just inside of the entrence to the mall. From where I was sitting, I would be able to see my family directly when they showed up.

There was a lot of people in the mall that day. There where still spaces for people to sit on the benches so if anyone wanted to sit down, they would be able to. I saw an clearly homeless man enter the mall. He was dirty and had a thin jacket on. I thought that he must be freezing in his clothes. He was rubbing his hands and blowing on them to regain some warmth. He looked around to see if he could sit on any of the benches. People looked away, put up bags on their benches or just took up the empty space to that the homeless man wouldn't be able to sit down next to them.

He looked at me and the free space on the bench next me. He looked a bit wary, like he was wondering if he could sit next to me. So I smiled politely at him to show that he shouldn't be afraid to come and sit next to me. So he did. I don't remember how we started talking to eachother, but I think I said something along the lines of "cold weather today, huh?". At first he say much, neither did I. He was a bit shy but we continued talking and then he started open up a bit. He told me about his life and why he was homeless. He told me he had a grown up son that he was very proud of. He told me about his hobbies. I was happy that I had bought two sodas because that meant that I could give one of them to him. He thanked me very much for the soda. We where talking and laughing and having a good time. Other people where looking at me like I was being very strange/stupid/weird to be talking to a homeless man, I saw it in the way they looked at me. But I didn't care. The homeless man was really kind and sweet. He just happened to have gone go through some hard stuff in his life and eventually ended up homeless.

After a while, I got a call from my mother who told me they where close to the mall and was going to meet me up within a couple of minutes, so I stood up and told the man that I had to leave. I thanked him for the nice conversation and said that it had been nice talking to him. He stood up, gave me a hug and told me that I was the first one to be talking to him in a long time. He said that people usually looked down on him or just pretended that he didn't exist. He said that he truly appreciated that I had treated him as an equal human being and not like trash. He was also very thankful for the soda I had given him. He was so thankful that I had been kind to him that he actually got teary eyed. He wished me all the best as we parted ways. I got a bit emotional too, since I hadn't thought much about him being homeless - I was just treating him as I would've done anybody else. That's the way my parents taught me to always do. The man said that I made his day which made me truly happy.

I left feeling both happy and sad. I was glad that I brightened his day but sad that he had and was having a rough life. I truly hope his life is better now. I think he deserves it.