N4L 098: "Same Kind of Different As Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

SUMMARY Ron Hall and his once-homeless friend Denver Moore chronicle the story of their friendship in "Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together." Through word-of-mouth, the book became a New York Times #1 platinum bestseller and stayed on the list for more than three and a half years. Now, with more than a million copies in circulation, the book is inspiring many to reach out to help the homeless in their own communities. With the strong urging of his wife Debbie, Ron Hall, a modern-day Good Samaritan, has spent the last 20 years replacing his high-society lifestyle with authentic concern for the downtrodden and tireless effort to lift the homeless. KEY POINTS Some homeless people genuinely like the freedom of not having to conform to rules and expectations and of circumventing responsibility and accountability. Denver would have none of the white man’s “catch-and-release” type of friendship. What the homeless want more than anything is to be dignified and to be humanized. Denver’s coins the phrase “Same kind of different as me” to describe how we all have more in common than not. We make the homeless invisible by not looking at them and connecting with them as humans. Ways to help humanize and give dignity to the homeless: ask their name; sit down and have a conversation with them; offer to let them use your cell phone to call their mother; buy them a bus ticket home; pray for what it is they most want; don’t judge them. QUOTES FROM HALL AND DENVER Ron Hall “While I dedicated my life to making money and spent a few minutes parked in a church pew on Sundays, she spent hours at Brian’s House, a ministry to homeless babies with AIDS. When I stormed Europe impressing billionaires with my art savvy, she stormed heaven, praying for the needy. My passion was recognition and success. Her passion was to know God.” "But he [Denver] remained absolutely convinced that his way of life was no worse than mine, only different, pointing out in the process certain inconsistencies: Why, he wondered, did rich people call it sushi while poor people called it bait?" "Driving home, [Debbie] reflected aloud on how society generally regards the homeless as lazy and foolish, and maybe some were. But she felt there was so much more below that surface image: dysfunction and addiction, yes. But also gifts—like love, faith, and wisdom—that lay hidden like pearls waiting only to be discovered, polished, and set." "It’s just a simple fact that in America drugs and booze cost money, but food is free to anyone willing to snooze through a gospel message." “You don’t become homeless because you run out of money; you become homeless when you run out of friends and family who will take you in.” Denver Moore "If you took a normal fella and dropped him off in the hobo jungle or under the bridge, he wouldn’t know what to do. You got to be taught to live homeless." "You…feel like nobody in the world cares nothin about you. Don’t matter if you live or die. People with that spirit get mean, dangerous. They play by the rules of the jungle.” "I didn’t scare everybody, though. I slept in the doorway of that United Way over on Commerce Street for a whole lotta years. And every mornin for all that time, a lady who worked there brought me a sandwich. I never knowed her name and she never knowed mine. I wish I could thank her. Funny, though. That United Way buildin was right next door to a church, and for all them years, nobody at that church ever looked my way." "The Word says God don’t give us credit for lovin the folks we want to love anyway. No, He gives us credit for loving the unlovable. The perfect love of God don’t come with no conditions, and that’s the kind of love Miss Debbie showed the folks at the mission." “I want to know why all you Christians worship one homeless man on Sunday, then you turn your back on the first one you see on Monday.” “We’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless—just workin our way toward home." BUY Same Kind of Different As Me (book) RECOMMENDATION BUY Same Kind of Different as Me (DVD) or watch it on Netflix. Other books by Ron Hall BUY Workin' Our Way Home: The Incredible True Story of a Homeless Ex-Con and a Grieving Millionaire Thrown Together to Save Each Other(sequel to Same Kind of Different As Me and story of the 10 years Ron and Denver lived together and traveled across America helping to raise nearly $100 million for the homeless) BUY What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing Visit Ron's foundation to make a difference and bless the homeless. Connect with us on social media! Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube Website Special thanks… Music Credit Sound Editing Credit