I wonder how many times I've walked past scenes like this and not even noticed.
What We Fail To See
Friday May 29, 2009
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Yes. This is a common sight, but as an image plucked from the busy flow of transit stations, it is sad and jarring. It elicits a wish that someone would offer help to this person, or that he would not be lying there in the first place.
What would happen if we pay attention to that empathetic reaction and translate it so that it can guide our politics? How can we invigorate ourselves so that we are accessible to compassion and sensitive to empathy? More importantly, how can we transform the world so that its institutions and structures facilitate love and caring? What is distracting these passers-by from providing love and caring for this person? Fear, pride, dis-identification with the poor, deadlines?
http://www.spiritualprogressives.org/article.php/love
I wish it were otherwise, but I think that 2000 years later the dynamics of the parable of the good Samaritan still ring true. The ones most likely to help this person will likely be those who are marginalized and downtrodden themselves, not the priests and powerbrokers of America's religion: capitalism.
... or PRETENDED not to notice. Thanks for this reminder. It makes me very uncomfortable to think about how easy it is to "normalize" the fact that others around us everyday are in such desperate need.
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