IN YOUR OWN WORDS LOOKING BACK WITH GRATITUDE BY RAELENE JOHNSON, VOICE VENDOR TEAM U.S.A. ILLUSTRATION BY GIGI GALEN, VOICE VENDOR RAELENE JOHNSON. CREDIT: KAREN BEEMAN AS I SIT HERE WRITING, I think about all of the things I’m grateful for. At the top of the list is my cancer doctor. When you go through a cancer journey, you really need the best team, and you need them to believe you. Early on, my doctor referred me to the doctor she saw when going through her own cancer treatment. She made sure I had the best cancer team to get through my treatment. I am grateful to them and all of the people at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center for their great care and compassion. I’m also grateful for the way my life has changed in the last 17 years since I came to Colorado. I was homeless, on drugs, and living under a bridge. I had no hope of a better life. Then, one day, I found the Denver VOICE. The VOICE and the rest of the street papers around the world do not care about your past and won’t hold it against you. They don’t care why you came to them for work when other places wouldn’t hire you. All I had to do was show up at the VOICE, go through orientation, and commit to following the Vendor Code of Conduct, and I received 10 free papers. For a new vendor starting, things may be hard, but if you keep on trying, you can change your life. I’m so glad I found the paper all those years ago! A BIG THANK YOU to all of those who have supported me and other Denver VOICE vendors by buying papers, which has helped keep the program going. Vending the paper can take a person from homelessness to having their own home. Vending the VOICE has definitely changed my life for the better. I am thankful that I’m clean and sober and have been for over 16 years. Drugs are a way of escaping reality, and they always make you feel good for a while, but before you know it, you’re hooked on them and start to do things you would 12 DENVER VOICE August 2024 ILLUSTRATION BY GIGI GALEN never do otherwise, just to get more drugs. Once you get to that point, you will find you are in and out of jail. You find yourself in the world of drug addiction for years. A lot of people will give up on themselves, and they may die from the drugs. Most addicts do want a better life — it’s just hard for them to believe they deserve better after being beat down by others because of their addiction and lifestyle. But the lucky ones like me will change their lives and discover good people who will help. I am so grateful that I found the right people to be around. I am thankful for my friends who have let me see I am worth having a good life. Through those friends, I was able to find myself. I’m grateful to the Denver VOICE for allowing me to write and become a published author. By writing over the years, I’ve learned that I could not only release things inside of me but also make an impact on others. It feels good when someone comes up to me and tells me a poem helped them with something they were struggling with, or that they have framed my writings and put them somewhere they can read every day. When that happens, it really makes my heart full of love. I’m so grateful I can make a difference in other people’s lives! I am grateful that I overcame my past. I have survived so many times when I should have died, but I’m so very glad I’m alive to live this life I was given and to be able to see all of my grandkids and great-grandkids. (In September, my 11th and 12th grandkids will be born, and I can’t wait to meet them!) Today, I am just grateful to be alive. I’m also grateful that my story can make a difference to others or help someone else realize they can begin living a better life today. ■
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