Virgil

I don’t know how many people have seen this, but I want to add to its going internet viral. From the NY Times, the raw facts:

On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence DePrimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man. The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots, and knelt to help the man put them on.

The act of kindness would have gone unnoticed and mostly forgotten, had it not been for a tourist from Arizona.

Her snapshot — taken with her cellphone on Nov. 14 and posted to the New York Police Department’s official Facebook page late Tuesday — has made Officer DePrimo an overnight Internet hero.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/ny...ts-online.html


This is the photo.



But the NY Post has a fuller follow up story.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...txuhX0fCclcO/0

The NYPD cop who spent his hard-earned cash on a frigid night to buy boots for a shivering homeless man recalled the encounter as “humbling.”

“It’s what I felt I had to do,” DePrimo said yesterday of the Nov. 14 encounter in Times Square. “I just looked down at this gentleman’s feet, and you could see the blisters . . . It was just so cold that I had to do something.”

Moved by the unidentified man’s suffering, DePrimo spent about $50 to buy boots and socks. He put them on the man’s feet himself.

“What sticks out in my mind is that he was just such a kind gentleman that I really had to help him,” DePrimo said. “I wanted to. It’s a very humbling experience.”

And further down the article:

DePrimo, a two-year cop who works out of the 6th Precinct in the West Village, had been working a special Midtown detail near 44th Street when he saw the man walking barefoot on Seventh Avenue at around 9:30 p.m.

People were laughing at the man, recalled DePrimo, whose own feet were freezing in boots and two pairs of socks on the 35-degree night.

“I went up to him and said, ‘Where are your shoes?’ ” DePrimo recalled. “And he said, ‘It’s OK. I’ve never had a pair of shoes, but God bless you.’

“And that had really taken me aback, because this gentleman had enough heart to say God bless me, and he didn’t even have a pair of socks!”

DePrimo ran ahead of the man down Seventh Avenue, to a Skechers store, told them the situation and asked for help.

And still further down:

DePrimo said the mystery man declined an offer to get a cup of coffee and something to eat.
“I was able to share that moment with him, and then he just continued to walk on his way,” the cop said. “It was a great moment for both of us.”

The cop’s gesture came as no surprise to his parents, who said he got them out of bed to tell them about it that night.

“It seemed to really bother him,” said DePrimo’s mom, Angela.

“He woke us up and started talking about this homeless man he’d seen, and how much it bothered him that people were making fun of the man.”

“The part that really got me was that he actually put the socks and the shoes on the man,” Angela said.

“A lot of people can buy things, but he actually bent down and put them on. When he told me that part, I just gave him a hug.”

“It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’d do that, that’s the kind of guy he is,” said his dad, Lawrence.

“In college, after Hurricane Katrina, he made two trips with Habitat for Humanity to Louisiana to help. He’s a good, decent guy, and I’m not just saying that because he’s my son.”
DePrimo, who has an older sister and younger brother, was an honor-roll student at Connetquot HS in Bohemia, LI, and went to Pace University on a swimming scholarship, where he graduated with a history degree, his dad said.

“Everyone’s always liked him, from his principals to his teachers,” his mom said. “He’s just that kind of boy. I guess because he cares about other people.”

If you know police officers, humility does not come natural to them. Perhaps it’s the uniform or the gun or the authority that in time goes to their heads, so it’s quite amazing how this young police officer felt “humbled” by the old man. And it was just a simple “God bless you” which resonated within his heart that stirred the young man to action. And then the officer, going beyond just giving him a pair of shoes, actually kneeled down and put the socks and shoes on what looks like a rather dirty and smelling street person.

We Christians talk about Christ working through people. How many of us Christians would have gone to this extent? Sure I contribute to charities, help people out with a check, but physically touching and healing the lowest among is the fullest embodiment of Christianity. I feel guilty I made excuses as to why I couldn’t volunteer to help the hurricane Sandy victims. And that was right here near my neighborhood.

There are a number of echoes that come to mind with this young man’s incredible deed. First, I’m reminded of Christ lowering Himself to wash His disciple’s feet. (John 13:1-18). He concludes that with this:

13 You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. 14 If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. 16 Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.

(NAB Translation)

Second, I’m reminded of the lines in the prayer from St. Theresa of Avila:

Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Finally I’m reminded of St. Francis of Assisi’s famous quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”

I am in awe of Officer DePrimo. This is what I want my son to grow up to be. This is what I want to grow up to be! The "Christian of the Year" in this blog's title is my award. There is no such award that I know, and it's probably not even very Christian to have such a prideful notion. I have no idea how religious Officer DePrimo is, but that doesn't matter. He never said a single word out of the Gospel but he preached it better than any sermon I ever heard.

Here’s a clip of the young man being interviewed.



Officer Lawrence DePrimo, God bless you.