The only reason why I’m mentioning this article from today’s Washington Post, “The Court of Vanished Dreams,” is because the court in question is in the TC. According to the article a homeless fellow had a good idea, create a basketball league, involve area teens to keep them out of trouble. Problem was James Russell, the homeless fellow who started it, bailed on the teens and the other homeless men who were to be coaches and timekeepers, taking $1,000 with him. Being charitable, one could say Russell couldn’t battle his own demons which part of him meant well but another part didn’t and that part won. Not being charitable, Russell was a con man who not only took away people’s money but heavily damaged their trust in others. Trust is a very fragile thing and when it is damaged it hardens the hearts of the victims and makes it that more difficult for the next person who might not want money, but good will, time, mercy, patience, and or faith.
According to the article, the league used the basketball court at 1st and Florida on the Shaw side of Florida, opposite the Big Bear. I’ve seen groups playing there but never really thought any of it was organized. Next time, I’ll take another look and be a bit more observant.
There is a bit of a bright light to this story of a bum that let his colleagues and the kids down, another homeless fellow, Wade Simmons, who was coaching for the league took over. Though the whole thing is less than kosher, meaning if it were run by some responsible non-profit a number of the participants might be excluded. But it is good in that it allows the usual recipients of charity to be charitable and it is better to give than receive.
This page contains a single entry by Mari published on July 8, 2010 8:13 AM.