Up Close and Personal…
Note – This originally appeared as a note on Facebook in 2014. I’m reposting it here because I never thought it got enough attention back then and this is a topic that deserves an ongoing discussion. I believe our greatness can only be judged by how we treat our most vulnerable. Thoughts are welcome! I’m sure I’ll talk more about this at some point in the future.
– Ryan
I’ve been walking the streets of the major city of Atlanta for a few days. Taking time to unplug and get outside of myself and my life. Of course, I discovered that I can never get away from myself. I’m always there, hanging around in the background. But I did get to spend quite a bit of time walking around merely being an observer in a great city. However you can’t walk around a city of this size without noticing and interacting with the homeless community. To see evidence of where they slept the night before, trying to keep warm, scraping by on an orange or a scrap of food. Much like when I stayed in St Lucia for a wedding, I can’t quite sleep as sound knowing that while I sit in my comfy bed there are people sleeping in a doorway or on a park bench outside in the cold. But it’s one thing for that to happen in a third world country where the poor outnumber the privileged, but here, in the land of opportunity it breaks my heart to see the homeless epidemic that grasps this country. Unlike the other countries we have enough money to cover up our homeless. We push them to the fringe, hide them behind our endless sea of concrete and neon lights. We treat them like criminals and harass them when their only crime is falling on hard times and not being able to get out of it. We pretend that there is nothing wrong, move along, nothing to see here. It makes me hurt to the center of my spirit that we scream this is the land of opportunity from the highest skyscraper but lack the introspection to see the poor and needy who are dying in the alleyways behind those very buildings. We tend to scream we’re the “Greatest Nation on Earth” and I think in a lot of senses that’s true. But if you judge a nation by how we take care of the least among us, we have a long way to go.
I don’t have the answers, I wish I did. I have notions but no way to move them forward and a lot of people would think I was a radical if I truly spoke my mind. I can only hope at some point in my life that I will have the resources to make a difference. In the meantime, I will continue to do what I can to help. This morning I stopped to eat at a 24 hour diner in downtown Atlanta. I tend to eat small portions and was amazed when breakfast came and was large enough I could have easily shared it with three other people. As I sat and poked at it while checking Facebook I noticed several guys walk by the window and I noticed a few of them looking in hungrily. I got an idea and asked the waiter for a to go box and some plastic silverware. I paid for my meal and took off down the sidewalk on a mission. I had seen a certain guy who had looked in the window. I don’t know what it was but I just knew. I was lucky and I found him. I approached him and spoke to him, which seemed to surprise him and I handed him the bag with the food in it. He looked at it with a shocked look on his face. He then smiled and merely said “Thank you!”. I smiled and told him to have a good morning and take care. I wish I could have done more for him but a warm meal was all that is in my power currently.
In the end, I think we should all do what we can to make a difference. A meal, some change, even just a smile and a kind word. Individually we can’t change the world, but if we make small changes and we all do it, perhaps we can make a difference. I truly hope so.
