Valentine’s Day might be a cynically confected holiday designed to milk money out of the somewhat unavoidable human experience of attraction, but that certainly doesn’t mean that nothing good can come of it.
Take, for instance, this lovely thing that happened to Lance Smith, who, as described in a Facebook post that has since gone exceptionally viral, met a bloke named Cameron who is trying his hardest to make the day a bit nicer for the people around him. From the post:
In my time with Cameron I found out a little bit about him. His dad fell sick when he was in his 20s and was taken into permanent care leaving Cameron unable to afford the rent on his own. He has been in and out of homelessness for many years, including a 2 year stint at The Spit, living in a dome tent with his possessions buried in a wheelie bin.
Being diagnosed with schizophrenia and suffering from depression, he has been unable to hold down full-time employment. He started selling The Big Issue in December and told me since selling it his depression has significantly reduced, he feels like he has purpose, and genuinely enjoys getting up in the morning to go sell it. He said the best he’s sold in one day is 10, making him $35.
Cameron went on to say that he was super stoked for Valentine’s Day, Lance asked why:
He told me that he’s going to buy $100 worth of roses and give them out. I asked him how much he was going to sell them for and he replied, “Nothing, I’ll be giving them out for free. I just like to see the joy and smile on people’s faces.” This blew my mind and put tears in my eyes.
Lance proceeded to take Cameron down to the shops and go in with him for some roses:
I drove Cameron to Aldi and we bought 100 roses for $100. I bought 50 and he bought 50. He’s going to be down at Nobbys Beach shops (outside The Shack Superfood Cafe) tomorrow morning from 7:30am on the corner selling The Big Issue and giving away roses for Valentines Day.
What a legend. If you happen to be around Nobby Beach on the Goldy tomorrow, reckon it’d be mighty swell of you to pick up a Big Issue. Otherwise, might just be nice of you to pick up a Big Issue wherever you are.
