Sitting outside yesterday, eating my lunch and soaking in the surroundings of my busy, downtown work spot, I watched a young woman, in her mid-20's come rambling up the steps towards all the "corporate lunchers" and start yelling "please, someone, give me some money or give me some food". She was clearly unstable and likely homeless and addicted but I was uncomfortable and uneasy as I nibbled on my salad that suddenly didn't taste very good.
How do we decide who is deserving of our "help" and those that will just be ignored or passed by? In a city fraught with homeless people, binners, addicts, junkies etc, I know that many of us have become immune to the pleading and the begging and the intimidating that we face when walking through the city. I am sad that I too have become one of those people, dressed in my corporate gear, taking some time at lunch to wander up to Sephora, who has mastered the expression that tells the person crying for help that I cannot hear them and am not going to engage. How utterly horrible is that? When I write that I feel terrible. That I could be one of those people who ignore the person begging for help and tell myself "someone else will help them out".
I read in the paper this morning that a homeless man, who lay on a park bench for 5 hours in the heat, started having convulsions and was ignored by people walking by. By the time someone did help (by calling emergency services) it was too late. The man, unnamed, died. What would I have done, if I had seen this stranger, in his dirty clothes shaking uncontrollably?
It is my goal to be more aware of how I treat these people; think of these people; react to these people. My husband who generally won't hand out money but will buy a person food and a drink, once took a homeless man into MacDonalds, bought both himself and the man a meal and then sat at a table with the man to eat. Nothing was said. No one spoke, but two guys from two different worlds shared a meal. I would bet that sitting at a table, with another person, eating a meal was worth more to that man that we will ever know.
Tomorrow, inevitably, I will walk at lunch and will be approached by two or even three people who will ask for money. The challenge for me will be to see what gesture I can do to make a difference. Even a little.
