Every so often youcome across a story which restores your faith in humanity, in the goodness ofpeople and the power of small acts of kindness. This is that story.
We all know how toughlife can be, and when life turns upside down, who do we turn to? Well, ourfriends and family of course! But for a moment, imagine having no one to turnto, imagine being so utterly alone in the world that you are forced to resignto a life of dismal poverty and loneliness. That was the life of Mick Myers,who was homeless and lived on the streets for three decades until a policeofficer with a heart of gold came along and changed both their lives forever.
The story of MickMyers began when he was adopted, by a decent family in California. He wasadopted as a baby and was raised by a family who treated him well enough, buthe never connected well with his adoptive siblings. He had friends but soonlost touch with them after school ended. The only person he truly connectedwith was his adoptive mother, who was said to have been very warm andaffectionate towards her adopted son. After the death of his adoptiveparents, Mick also lost his only connection to his adoptive siblings. Theyturned their backs on him, leaving him utterly alone in the world.
With nowhere to goand no place to call home, Mick took a job as a truck driver. The isolation ofthe job suited him; he was an introvert after all. Eventually, though he losthis job, and with it his desperation at the hand he had been dealt in life grewworse. With no job and no friends or family to turn to, Myers had to come toterms with living the remainder of his life as a homeless man. He spent thirtyyears on the streets of San Leandro, California. He had a guitar which he wouldplay from time to time to collect enough money for a hot meal. This became hislife, and he had all but resigned to this being his life until the day he died,but fate still had one more hand to deal, and that hand was dealt in the formof a policeman- Deputy Sheriff Jacob Swalwell.
Deputy Sheriff JacobSwalwell of Alameda County had seen Mick around during his patrols. He hadwarned Mick Myers against bothering passersby for money, but when he saw thatMyers was not stopping even after repeated warnings, he decided to take moresevere action. It was when he asked for his ID that the deputy sheriff came toknow that this homeless man hadn’t had a place to call home in thirty years,and he wasn’t able to collect social security because he had never even had an ID.When the deputy conversed with Mick further, he was surprised to find out thatthis man who he had been admonishing was not an addict or criminal, but adesperate victim of circumstance. Here was a man who had been disabled andhomeless for a full three decades, without any means of getting out of hiscurrent situation and no one even offering any real help. The deputy knew hehad to do something.
The deputy sheriffdecided that the first step in getting Mick off the streets was getting him anID. The deputy didn’t realize it at the time, but he was about to start a chainof events that would alter the course of Mick Myer’s life in ways neither ofthem imagined possible. Getting an ID made soon proved to be quite atask, as Mick’s original birth certificate was required. The possibility oftracking down the birth certificate of an adopted baby seemed slim to Myers,but Deputy Sheriff Swalwell was determined to turn things around for Mick.While Mick remained certain that his life would not be changing for the betterany time soon, the deputy remained steadfast in his mission to track down thisseemingly impossible birth certificate. It took some time and effort, but thedeputy was finally able to get his hands on the long lost birth certificate,which revealed yet another truth about our man of the hour. Mick Myers came toknow that the name that had been given to him by his birth parents was GordonMichael Oakley.
Due to the efforts ofthe officer, Mick Myers- or should we say Gordon- was finally issued an ID! Asmore and more people heard of this story, it soon caught the ears of a localnews network. Inspired by this act of kindness and moved by the story of ahomeless man, the new station aired a story to spread the heart-warming tale. You’d think that this heart-swelling tale would end here but no! The bestwas yet to come. The next catalyst in this true and one of a kind story wouldbe another kind soul who happened to be watching the story being told on thelocal news. This individual was a private investigator named Mark Askins.
Mark Askins was aninvestigator who worked for Miracle Messages, a non-profit organization thataims at reuniting homeless persons with their relatives. Askins expressed greatinterest in taking on Myer’s case. After receiving the go-ahead from Mick toinvestigate his past, Askins set out to change the lives of an unsuspectingfamily forever. From his investigative research, Askins was able touncover the names of Myer’s birth parents. Their names were Wiley Albert Oakleyand Maria Pauline Oakley. An investigator through and through, Askinsdidn’t stop there. He kept searching for more clues about the Oakley’s and theevents leading to Mick Myer’s unexplained adoption.
Askins discoveredthat married life for Marie Pauline Oakley got off to a shaky start. She wasmarried and pregnant at the age of sixteen, to a young sailor named WileyOakley. The couple was desperately poor, living in a cabin with holes in thewalls big enough for snakes to crawl through. Marie claimed that her husband’searnings went straight to his own mother, who would only give them enough moneyfor baby formula. There wasn’t even a proper crib for her baby to sleep in. The small family lived in a state of starvation and deprivation. Mariesoon realized she could not continue to expose her baby to such poor conditionsand decided to move back home and live with her mother, all while pregnant withher second child. After her marriage to her neglectful husband wasannulled, she soon gave birth to a child she named Gordon, who would grow up tobe called Mick. The newly single mother faced many challenges, but it was whenGordon tuned two that she experienced the biggest challenge of all. Gordon wasdiagnosed with a hole in his stomach. Marie was told that the hole would proveto be life-threatening if not surgically treated. Marie was devastated. Sheknew she would never be able to afford the medical care her child needed andwas forced by fate’s cruel hand to do the only thing she could do to save herchild; she gave him up. Her baby was adopted by a family who would be able toafford his medical care. She often wondered what life had done with herbaby boy, but she never expected that sixty-five years later fate would giveher an answer.
Mark Askins soon discoveredthat Marie was not only alive, but she had changed her name to Polly and livednearby in Humboldt County. He then unveiled all that he had learned to ashocked mother and son, who were eager to meet each other. Mick Myers wasaccompanied by both Deputy Sheriff Swalwell and Mark Askins on his first everplane ride, to Humboldt County. Upon his arrival, Myers soon discoveredthat he was not just meeting his birth mother Polly, but a whole family! Hismother wrapped her arms around him the second he came through the door, exudinga love that Myers had never experienced before. He was overwhelmed to discoverhe not only had a mother but a sibling and niece as well! A man who had knownnothing but isolation and deprivation his whole life was now being surroundedby a family who welcomed him with open arms and open hearts.
All of this waspossible only because of the kindness of one man, Deputy Sheriff Swalwell. Oneman’s actions were enough to take a homeless man off the street and give him anew life and loving family. People don’t devote themselves to helping theirfellow man like this anymore, and the officer going above and beyond the callof duty is just a reminder that there are still some remarkable and kind humanbeings in the chaos of the world today, and just that knowledge is enough tomake our hearts swell!
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