What is your purpose? Charlie Rossen is like any other man in this world. He works hard for what he believes in, dedicates his time to heling other people and has even experienced death first hand. Charlie, a young man in his early twenties, tells the story of when he decided it was time to come out to his parents that he was gay. Is there ever a good or right time? But he knew that his. Mother would understand, make him cookies and accept him for who he was. But he was disappointed to find out that this reality turn her against him and she would tell him to not tell his father. But the next morning he does exactly that, owning his new-found strength in who he is and feels he has always been. He then takes it one step further when he gets to school. His friends always bullied the kids that were different including the gay kids, and Charlie always did nothing- said nothing. But on this day, he stands up for one of his classmates who is too afraid to step into the shower because they are there. Charlie lets him know, he’s not the only gay person in the showers. In this moment his friends turn against him and beat him with a pipe. After many months in the hospital he recovers with a new found need to live out his purpose. He runs a food pantry that serves the homeless. The people that he feels are ignored and avoided but what he realizes is that everyone deserves to experience the gratitude of others and makes affirmations a part of his daily life because it is his purpose. Everyone has a purpose and through his experience Charlie found his.
Male- Gratitude & Affirmations
(The scene opens with Charlie a young man in his early twenties simple looking, with a good heart. He is putting stuff into bags, folding them and putting them on a shelf. This brings him great joy. He fills the bags with a sense of pride.)
(Counting)122 and 123. Not bad Charlie, not bad at all. Ever since I was in the third grade I had it in my mind that I could eliminate homelessness. (Smiles)It was a simple mathematical problem to me, mind you at that age I’m doing the most basic math possible but still my heart was in the right place. I said to my dad one day that if everyone did a little bit for someone else we wouldn’t have homelessness. We wouldn’t have people living on the streets that are hungry it just looked to me as something that was inhumane that those of us who have everything could do something about. And if you can do something about it why wouldn’t you want to right? It was all so logical and simple as life should be at that age. I was one of those stupid kids that believed in something. I believed I could cure homelessness. I believed that my parents would love me unconditionally. And when I was 17 years old I believed that I could take the weight of the world off of my shoulders and share that weight with the people that I love the most just by telling them that I was gay. (Beat)I was stupid. (Continuing)So now I fill bags, small little things of necessity and I deliver them to homeless people. Because if there’s one thing that I have learned in my short life it’s that you have to believe in something and when you get punched in the face hard enough and what you want to do is curl up in a ball and remove yourself from the situation, attach yourself to the darkest space possible, when that happens you have to figure out a way to breathe again... without choking.