THE CHILLING TRUTH.

the air on that cold winter morning was bone chilling.

it bit through his clothes and wrapped it's cold fingers around his skin with a ruthless grasp.

the winter had no pity on anyone who wasn't dawned in layers upon layers of warm clothing.

as he ran from his house to the family car that morning, he was thankful for the new snow boots he found underneath the red and green christmas paper.

his mother and father made their way to their seats in the front of the car, while he took his place in the back.

he breathed his hot breath onto the frosty window & traced figures with his tiny fingers over the glass.

he warmed his feet with the heat that blasted out from the vents.

he had finally beaten the winter air.

as his dad pulled out of the snowy driveway,

he gazed wide eyed out of the car windows.

he looked upon all of the twinkling christmas lights.

he gawked at the beautifully decorated christmas tress in the big picture windows of his neighbor's lovely homes.

he watched as the other children in his neighborhood played with their new toys that they had gotten that morning from Santa Clause. 

his insides were almost as warm as his insides now.

he loved christmas.

as his father drove further and further from their town, he noticed things changing.

the houses were no longer beautiful.

there weren't any glowing lights on houses or in store front windows.

there weren't any christmas trees decorated from top to bottom in sight. 

there weren't any children playing with their new toys in the big front yards covered in snow.

the big beautiful homes had transformed into shacks that looked old.

they were falling apart and had broken fences protecting the dirty yards.

the snow wasn't pretty here, but was instead black and angry looking.

the only lights that he saw here were ones in the windows of the liquor stores.

there weren't any children here either, but instead there were people loitering the streets.

people here wore clothes his mother would never allow him outside in the blistering cold with.

they carried paper bags with something they drank that he hoped was keeping them warm from the harsh weather. 

some of these unusual people were even pushing carts full of unusual looking toys.

santa had never brought him any of those types of toys before.

his father pulled up to a stop light where the car idled and waited to continue it's journey.

he looked to the side of him, out of the frosted glass.

there sat a man, unlike any man he had ever seen where he came from.

the old man had a long beard that looked like it needed a bath.

his skin looked tired and sagged down, as if it were just as tired as he was.

he wore what looked like rags on his frail, thin body.

his clothes almost swallowed him whole.

the old man who sat there on the corner, wasn't even wearing any shoes.

the little boy wondered why santa hadn't brought the old man any shoes for christmas.

the old man lifted up his bright blue eyes and gazed back at the young boy who studied him.

he lifted his calloused hand up and waved to the interested boy.

he had made a new friend!

he raised his hand back to wave to his new friend, and jolted at the sound of his father's powerful disapproving voice.

"you put your hand down, son. you do not wave to that vermin. there are people in this world who are unlike us, and he is one of them.

they only want your money. don't ever give them any. they are on the streets for a reason, son. never help those who don't help themselves."

he quickly retracted his tiny hand and placed it back in his lap.

he looked back out to the old man as the light turned green and glimpsed a small part of the pain the old man felt.

he looked on as the man's bright blue eyes slowly became sad again.

as they slowly filled with tears of pain, sadness, and loneliness.

he watched as a single tear fell from the old man's eye and ran down his tired skin, quickly falling into the dirty snow.

he remembered that day so vividly as he drove down the same street his father had that christmas morning so long ago.

he didn't realize then what he knew now.

as he idled at that same stop light so many years later

he thought back to the old man with no shoes.

maybe the old man wouldn't have been sitting on that corner that christmas if he was lucky enough to have what the boy did.

maybe his eyes wouldn't have been filled with such sadness if he had only had the one thing he truly wanted for christmas.

maybe the old man wouldn't have been there if he had only had a family of his own.