Writer's Digest

A Single Red Balloon

oe wanted a reason to live. He was sitting on the corner of Lexington and 53, surrounded by his few worldly possessions and a cardboard sign that read “Disabled Veteran, Please Help” propped up against a metal jar with a few coins in it. He walks with a permanent limp after taking shrapnel in his left leg, but the physical pain he can live with.

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