On Lowered Expectations of Injustice
We can get so annoyed so easily. A traffic jam….and we are annoyed.
A colleague late for the meeting…..and we are annoyed.
A spouse who is taking too long in the changing room at the clothing store…..and we are annoyed.
Spend a little time with a homeless person and then ask yourself if the above three are big or minor annoyances. When I pass a homeless person, I can tell that he expects me to not see him. He thinks he is invisible.
He is not.
Just yesterday, in leaving a restaurant with a good friend, there was a dear homeless person on the corner. It was a cold evening. He smiled. We gave him our “take out box” and he beamed. He laughed and with arms outstretched, he proclaimed, “God bless you.”
So amazing. He has nothing….no home…..and he thinks he is invisible to the rest of the world.
Yet, he is rich because he has gratitude and love in his heart.
We decided, after having traversed a block on making our way to the safety and warmth of our homes, to turn back and give him some money along with the food. He was eating, saw us coming, and with outstretched arms, welcomed us with a “God bless you.”
He seems to have no resentment in his heart…..even when outside….without a home…..in the cold of an early winter……even while seeing that others do not see him.
Robert
Note: We are filing this in the category of Famous People. The homeless are not invisible and we did not want this uncategorized post to become invisible.
I think most of us do not see the homeless person because of our own guilt. If we do not give or help in some way, we have to justify that. Not seeing is a way of not necessarily feeling like we have to help. Yet, isn’t it those in such need who are instrumental in our own growing in compassion? They are our teachers.
Great point, Chris, about the homeless person being our teacher. I hope that they are all protected on this Thanksgiving Day.
Maybe being invisible is yet another wound inflicted on the poor. Maybe they need to forgive those of us who just walk by and do not acknowledge them.
The poorer the person the more humble the person usually. When we have too much we get spoiled. It is funny that those who talk about power this and power that are usually the rich and spoiled philosophers who would not know poverty if it leaped up and bit them on the nose!
I have known want. You touch my heart. We learn much from the poor.
And the last shall be first.
We are too quick to judge the poor. Those I have known have not chosen this. They tend to be the sensitive people of the world, easily hurt. They are damaged more by the hurts of life. We need to see this.