Tonight, on our way to bowling, we stopped at Wendy's for food. This is not about bowling, or Wendy's or the evils of fast food. It's about homelessness, and more specifically, about homeless veterans.

While we were eating, a gentleman came in and sat at one of the tables closest to the door. A bit portly in build, in a USMC sweatshirt and beanie cap, he quietly sat. As people entered or left, he attempted to ask each of them a question. Without fail, the young teenaged girl, the middle age Latino family and the three enlisted Marines walked past him as though he wasn't there.

As I went to leave, he asked me his question. “Ma'am, do you have a cell phone?” He wanted to call the pastor of a local church to see if he could be picked up, so that he wouldn't have to spend another night on the street. All he wanted was the security of an answer. Yet, no one else would give it to him. When I took the time to care and make the call, it reduced this man to tears. He cried because a stranger cared enough to help.

How could I not call? That man had answered the same call as I had. He had served his country. In some unique way, this man is my brother, my fellow veteran. Yes, he's homeless. Last time I checked, homelessness wasn't a crime. Last time I checked, homelessness wasn't a choice that most people make. It is a circumstance forced onto people.

Veterans, both male and female, have an unusually high incidence of homelessness. Combat veterans return home to a strange place. They have literally seen things and had to do things that no human should have to see or do. Female veterans have the additional risk of sexual trauma, which has long been an issue in all branches of our military.

Homelessness is very demoralizing. Our society tends to treat the homeless as if inferior or invisible. And, in truth, without a home, without an address, a homeless person can't get much help. They ARE invisible. That man that I helped tonight should never have been put into the position of having to ask someone to make that phone call for him. There should be safety nets in place in our society to help these veterans. Those other people who walked past this man who served in the military to protect them should hang their heads in shame. Those three young Marines should be so of ashamed of what they did. They are no better than he. And believe me, I have no respect for them. One of their own, shunned and humiliated because he's homeless.

I left Wendy's knowing that one human was better off because I chose action over inaction. I chose to be kind. It cost me nothing. It paid me millions to see the smile, through his tears, on that man's face. Two minutes to care. Two minutes to give hope. Anyone can do it. I truly wish that more would.