The Third Option

In Honduras, when a street kid asks for money, most people see two choices:

1. Give them money, skeptical it will be spent on food or medicine.

2. Say no, and watch them walk away to ask the next person.

   
   

But I refuse to accept that.

They aren't lost causes. They are human lives. They deserve a real chance.

So I chose a third option.

The third option isn't neat or simple. It isn't quick or easy. It is messy, exhausting, and full of setbacks. It looks like showing up, day after day, even when they don't. It looks like sitting on a bench, waiting for them, only to realize I’d been stood up again. It looks like celebrating a breakthrough one day, then watching it wash away the next.

With Gerson, this went on for months. Good days and bad days. Ups and downs. One step forward, two steps back.

People around me thought I was insane. They told me I was wasting my time. They said he will never change.

But here’s what they didn’t see: Gerson noticed.

He saw me keep showing up. He saw me forgive him. He saw that I cared enough to wait, to come back the next day, and the next, and the next. He realized that I wasn’t going to give up on him, no matter how many times he failed to show up for me.

That’s when trust began to grow. Not in one dramatic moment, but in a hundred little ones. That’s when a boy who trusted no one began to believe that maybe, just maybe, he could trust me.

And that trust made all the difference.

One day, after months of effort, heartbreak, and resilience, Gerson said yes. He walked through the doors of rehab. That moment wasn’t about me convincing him with words. It was about him seeing, over time, that I was stubborn enough to love him when no one else would.

This is what Project Gerson is about. It’s about embodying the third option. The option that says, I will not give up on you. The option that proves change is possible, not through speeches or quick fixes, but through relentless presence and patient love.

And now, the same persistence I showed with Gerson is continuing with the other boys who need help. Some have already signed the paperwork and are just waiting for donations. Others are skeptical and scared. But just like with Gerson, I am showing them slowly, steadily, stubbornly that I will keep showing up for them too.

Because this is what changes lives. This is the third option.

Michael

michael@projectgerson.org