I went for a walk today. I don't have any pictures to share though, just a few thoughts. I met a man during my walk. He stopped me, said hello, told me quite a bit about his life and asked me for money. He had clearly been drinking but he was polite and I felt sorry for him. I don't carry my purse with me when I walk so I had no money to give him. He told me he needed it to take a bus ride back to Santa Monica. I don't know if that was true or not. The odds are high if I'd given him any he would have bought something else to drink. I still wish I'd had some to give him.
I've been kind of feeling sorry for myself the last couple of days. It feels a little trite to say that he made me realize how lucky I am but he did. Yeah my life could be better right now. But I'm lucky. I have people who love me and care what happens to me and I didn't get the impression this guy has anyone. I was out walking because I wanted to be, not because I had no choice. I see a lot of homeless people around Sacramento. I also see a lot of people ignore them and treat them rudely and I'm not sure why they do that. Fear maybe. Or maybe they really don't care. They have busy lives and no time to talk for a minute or smile at someone. I'm not the most outgoing, friendly person around but when someone talks to me I don't ignore them. It doesn't matter if they are pushing a cart full of bottles or trailing secret service guards, it's rude to ignore someone who is speaking to you.
A lot of things matter in life but I think what matters most in our relationships with other people is kindness. One of my favorite stories is The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke. If you haven't read it, click on the link and read it. It's a short story and won't take you long. The "moral" is at the end: "Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me."
You can take it as a religious or moral lesson or just take it to mean that we're all human and no one should be treated as less than that. I don't know. I don't have any answers to the problems society faces. I don't think I'm really any nicer than anyone else. I was brought up to be polite so I'm polite. I'm just sad tonight because I'm thinking about that man and wondering where he'll sleep and hoping he gets enough to eat. Life is sad sometimes and I guess there isn't always a good solution. But I still think kindness matters. I suppose you could say if I'd given him money and he'd bought more liquor that wouldn't have been a kindness. I disagree though. I think the kindness is in acknowledging him and helping if possible and letting him make his own decision. So next time I walk I'll bring a couple of dollars with me. And yeah, in case you wondered, I'm a bleeding heart, naive, gullible, liberal. I'm good with that though.
2 comments:
OMGosh, I have been called a Bleeding Heart Liberal plenty and I wear the badge with pride. So its a few bucks, saved it when you didn't buy a six pack of coke ~lol~. You are so right, what does matter is that you acknowledged the man. I used to work with a few of that Christian Conservative bunch. We would walk behind them as we all trapsed to eat lunch. A few times I heard their remarks as they passed they guy that washes windows down town and is not as well groomed as them. "What a degenerate". I was spitting mad and let them know it later, out of Mr. Window Washer's earshot. I always spoke to him and he was always pleasant. Why is it so hard for some to be kind and compassionate.
Carol
It's really such a simple thing and just common courtesy. I see so many people who are really rude though. There is a Bible verse about entertaining angels unaware. I think perhaps some people ought to remember that!
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