The other night I get home around 3 or 3:30 in the morning and as Im parking my car I can see a young man sitting on the stoop of the corner store. As Im walking up to him to turn the corner and head home I start to get a closer look. He looks twenty-something and kind of dirty and a little down, with one shoe on and the other sitting on the ground in front of him. I glance at his bare foot and it seems to be cut up but not actively bleeding. I ask, Hey man, are you alright? He looks up, half with confidence, half with doubt, Yeah, Im okay. Considering his response and my state of exhaustion I headed up the hill and to my bed. Now I cant get it out of my head that I should have asked a couple more questions and find out if I couldve helped out in some way. There are always going to be a percentage of us who dont fit into society and/or are dealing with issues that lead them outside of the norm. Whether this be criminality, vagrancy, homelessness, or mental health or something else entirely there will be those who dont live quite like the rest of us. And whether the rest live quite like each other is another issue altogether. The point of this is that how we treat these (non?)members of society reflects upon our society. The goal should be compassion and respect for the individual. And hey, perhaps he was being honest and was fine according to himself and wouldnt have taken any form of help. But if we are to try and help each other it needs to be voluntary from both sides. We cant have forced help from the state, well intended as it may or may not be. For there are many unintended and unforeseen consequences of state action. Next time you are having a bad day, take a breath and think theres definitely people having a worse day whether in America or somewhere else in the world. Of course, this doesnt negate the issues in your life, but it should help to give some perspective and maybe a sense of contentment and/or relief that your life is probably pretty awesome.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 14:04:27 +0000
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