Steven Said...

All I ever wanted was designer clothes. Every morning I write in my little black notebook of all the designer items I need from Chanel, Gucci, Dior and Givenchy so I can keep up with all the celebrity trends. Steven, once told me to write down everything you want onto piece of paper then one day it will come true. So that's what I've been doing.

I also speak to Steven alone before I go to bed in hopes that one day I will be able to afford these clothing items from designer brands, so I don't have to go back to buying cheap, disgusting clothes from discounted retail stores.

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One Morning

I woke up one morning in a state of a hurricane. My bushy afro ponytail was a mess and I had small circles of crust underneath my lower eyelids. But something was different, my eyes were confused and bewildered. The glistening ray of daylight was breaking through the curtains beside me and was shining down on my light wooden dressing table. There was nothing on the table as I normally had clusters of skin care products scattered all over, but instead there was a stack pile of money that magically came over night.

Fascinated to discover what this could be, I crawled out of bed ever so gently and approached the pile of money. Concerned but interested at the same time, I drew myself closer to the money and noticed a ripped piece of paper at the bottom of the stack.

The message reads:

Dear Bethany,

Here's $20,000, use it wisely.

Love from Steven

xxxxxx

I couldn't believe it! They say things come in mysterious ways and it looks like Steven gave me a clear message to use the twenty-thousand dollars to buy all the designer clothes I ever wanted. I was feeling ecstatic and excited to go on my next shopping spree as I'll able to splash out on all things designer! This was a day that I've been waiting for and I was finally blessed with Stevens heart to buy what I needed.

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The Splurging Begins

I decided not to wait for the perfect day to come and start my shopping spree a couple of hours after receiving the money. I began to make space in my small closet for all the clothes and accessories I was going to buy, so I threw away most of my clothes I had purchased from one dollar retail stores over the past three years. I quickly jumped in the shower shortly after and stuck on a scruffy pair of old jeans and a white top which was actually the colour of grey.

With no time to waste, I finally grabbed my five dollar bag from Walmart and stashed the twenty-thousand dollars inside a pocket and hopped in my car with the radio on loud and windows down.

I was pumped and ready to go to buy all the the things I wanted from designer stores. I felt as if I was becoming a new woman with all this richness shoved in my Walmart bag, I thought after this day I would never go back to being the girl that shops in low end stores. This was a new beginning, a new chapter, the evolution of me being rich had finally happened.

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A Few Hours Later

One of the best days of my life came to an end by eating a sandwich on a bench with fifteen shopping bags that were filled with lavish items. I bought all the things I ever wanted that was written in my little black notebook which costed fourteen-thousand all together. Then I spent the rest of the six-thousand on other designer items that were not on the list, so I can have a little more for myself. None of the items were refundable too, but who would want to return such beautiful clothing? Steven said to use the twenty-thousand dollars wisely, so that's what I did.

I couldn't be more proud of myself for splurging out on luxurious fashion items and I wouldn't have spent the money on anything else.

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Finally Waking Up

Whilst I was admiring my fashion pieces in my shopping bags, I noticed a homeless man staring at me but I decided to ignore him. Minutes after, the man was still staring at me and I couldn't resist to ignore his pleading eyes so I eventually ruffled through my bag and realised I had nothing to give him, not even a dollar. The best thing to do was to walk away from and just pretend as if I never saw him.

I was struggling to carry all the shopping bags as I was heading back to my car, but I was struggling to come to terms with the massive queue for the homeless shelter that was around the corner to where I parked my car.

I could see from a distance the volunteers were struggling to cope with the demand to place all the people into this one shelter. There was also a film crew and a person holding a grey microphone by the volunteers for some strange reason. Within that moment, I just knew that homelessness is a serious problem across the country, as there's been a rise in people sleeping on the streets in recents years. Witnessing something like this with two of my own eyes was shocking and disappointing to see, but what could I do as an individual to reduce the number of people being homeless?

I was appalled by the long queue of people that needed a shelter. I was driving back home with the radio on thinking about the horrendous conditions on the streets that so many people across the country and around the world have to sleep through.

It was six in the evening and the radio station went straight to the six o'clock news, I was about to change the station to something else but then the news reporter began speaking.

"Good evening, this is your six' o'clock news with Sarah Goodwin. Homelessness across the country is at its worse in fourteen years. The recession of the economy has lead to a significant amount of job losses and cuts in salaries, leaving people across the country with little or without enough money to survive."

What a coincidence. As I was just thinking about homelessness across the country the six o'clock news began to address the issue of the crisis. I continued to listen further to see what else they have to say.

"Right now I'm outside a homeless shelter in New York City. Volunteers are struggling to accommodate the large amount of people that need to stay in this shelter."

I switched off the radio and was annoyed at the situation. The film crew outside the shelter was most definitely the news channel for the radio station that I was listening to. You hear and see advertisements all the time to reduce the number of people that are sleeping on the streets, but I also chosen to ignore these types of ads as I never thought the one or two dollars that I will donate will actually go towards the cause.

I came back home and began feeling disappointed of my greed. None of the items that I purchased had no benefit towards me as a person. Yes it's all real leather and high quality but I didn't need all of it. After so many years of dreaming and fantasizing on buying designer clothes, I had finally woken up and realised that none of the items purchased will not change me in anyway.

Materialistic items will not make someone become a better person. After witnessing hardworking volunteers that are making a difference and watching all those people in line that don't have nowhere to go for the night made me question. Who am I as a person that thinks splurging on designer clothes will change who I am and the way I think? I'm was still the same person I was twenty-four hours prior to receiving the twenty-thousand dollars.

The more time I thought about my selfish behaviour for doing the most ridiculous shopping spree, the more I thought about how I could of used the twenty-thousand dollars. Steven said to use it wisely and spending every cent of it on meanless fashion items was not the way forward. Buying one would of been ok. But buying several high end items all together worth twenty-thousand dollars was a stupid thing to do and all the items purchased are non-refundable.

Not many people will receive twenty-thousand dollars overnight and I clearly had the opportunity to use it wisely, but instead I blew it. I didn't understand why Steven gave me the money if he knew deep down I was going to spend it on nonsense. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise for a lesson to be learned. But it doesn't change the fact that I just wasted life changing money which could of been used to help me in any difficult circumstances or help others change their lives.

As the evening went by I decided to revisit my little black notebook and rewrite the list of all the things I wanted to do from that day forward.

All the things I wanted to do:

To Volunteer at the homeless Shelter- After witnessing the struggle of the volunteers, it maybe best to put my name forward and give a help in hand

Donate a large sum towards the homeless shelter- If I ever had the funds to donate money towards an organisation, then it would be the homeless shelter to give them more facilities to accommodate more people

Invest in a new home- I also need to think about the situation I'm in. I've been living in this small tiny apartment for five years. It's time that I work towards buying a new home.

Build my savings- It's always good to have savings incase of an emergency. Savings could also be an investment towards something bigger than buying designer clothes

Start doing small acts of kindness- I didn't necessarily have to give money to the man that was staring at me money, I could of gave him the chocolate bar that was in my Walmart Bag. He most definitely would of appreciated it.

I understood my terrible behaviour and I won't be asking for forgiveness from Steven, so the only thing I could do was to improve my actions. Be more responsible and considerate with managing money and think of ways to give something to a community or non-profit organisation.

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The Next Morning

I woke up in a state of a hurricane again, this time my bushy afro hair seemed as if I had an electric shock. There were bags underneath my eyes and my lips were super dry. Last night, I spent time placing all my skincare products back onto my light wooden dressing table. Steven somehow shoved them into my drawers the night before whilst I was sleeping. But yet again I woke up confused and bewildered as it seemed as if I was having a repeat of the morning before. There was a stack pile of money on the table and the sunlight breaking through the curtains was shining down on it. I checked the date on my alarm clock and it was definitely the next day, but why was there nothing on my dressing table accept the pile of money again? I jumped out of bed to see what this could be and I was shocked and wondering why this was happening to me.

The message reads:

Dear Bethany,

Here's $20,000, I'm giving this to you again because you have a heart like nobody else. Use it wisely.

Love from Steven

xxxx

I couldn't believe it! Steven has given me the opportunity once again to use twenty-thousand dollars on the new list of all the things I wanted to do.

Rather than being excited and happy for myself, I took a couple of minutes to think about how I'm going to use this gift from Steven. So I took out my little black notebook from my night drawer and referred back to the new list of all the things I wanted to do. Within that moment in time, I just knew the first thing I had to do was to email the homeless shelter. I wanted to donate some money towards providing more meals and beds to accommodate more people who have been sleeping on the streets.

The email reads:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I' am contacting you in regards to donating money towards the shelter. Unfortunately I had to witness the huge amount of people lining up to stay in your shelter. I also heard through the news that volunteers were struggling to cope with the demand to accommodate a large number of people that needed a meal and bed for the night.

I was hoping to donate $10,000 towards facilitating more beds and meals so less people within the area will not have the option to sleep on the streets. I am also interested in becoming a volunteer for a couple of days during the week to help with preparing meals and getting people to a safe place.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you very soon!

Kind regards,

Bethany Gordon

After sending the email it felt so good to take the first step towards making a difference for the community. From this day I began thinking about others and ways that I could make a difference in people lives. Whether it's a small act of kindness such as giving someone a hug or giving a large donation towards a charity. I've learned from this experience to think about others that are less fortunate than I am and to take some time to be considerate to others. It's ok to be selfish sometimes but when it interferes with the love and respect you don't show towards people around you, that's when you need a reality check.

Steven taught me a lesson that needed to be learnt and I'm ever so grateful that he showed me the way to becoming a better person. I wish he could be here in person but his presence will always be with me. But I had one problem. I woke up that morning with no clothes at all! Steven removed all the designer clothes I purchased and all the clothes I threw away the day before were not in my closet. Looks like I'm going back to Walmart and Target but I don't feel any shame in going.

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Thank you so much for reading my story. This of course is fictional but there is a little bit of truth that inspired me to create this very short narrative. You also may be wondering who Steven is, and that's something you need to figure out on your own.

Homelessness has been on the rise for many years within the UK and US and it will continue to rise unless we come together and combat the situation by giving small donations towards shelters and food banks within your local communities. A small one-off donation could provide a meal for someone today or tomorrow and can really make a difference in someone's life. Homelessness can affect anybody, including families and young people and we need to be considerate and respectful towards those that don't have a home to go to.

Once gain, thank you so much for reading. Be sure to give a love heart and tip if you can and I will be posting more very soon. I love you for reading and have a awesome day!

Bethany Gordon xoxo

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