Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Homeless and girl on a bike with sunglasses stand off:

I was in my car, driving from an awesome swim class with my baby boy.  He is doing AMAZING by the way.  He has a new physical therapist who is aligned with what my husband and myself believe in, meet the child where he is at and focus on his strengths to help the weak muscles out more.  Simple, right?  We can apply this to every day life, even emotional balance. 

As I sat pondering this thought I noticed a seemingly homeless gentleman walking down the sidewalk with his heavy looking bag wrapped around his neck, weathered by car exhaust and every day travel.  He appeared to have a little skip in his step which made me smile.  He passed a woman on her bike, with blonde hair, sunglasses, work out gear on....focused.  He stopped, said "Hello! good morning to you!" she said nothing.  He walked.  He stopped.  He turned around and said "You could at least say Hi back."  She rolled her eyes and drove off. 

That homeless man with a spring in his step and friendly "hello" is awesome.  That homeless man is a man, a human being and someone's brother, son, husband, child, uncle, friend.  That MAN is amazing and he definitely deserved a "Hello" back from a stranger, and maybe a "hey, how are you doing?"  The MAN fell through the cracks and needs our help.  Despite that, he still maintains a happy attitude and continues to walk to where I have no idea. 

That exchange, that icky ignoring and awful, self entitled roll of the eyes represents what the hell is wrong with this world.  We are all handed very different lives.  It is our human responsibility to help lift others up when we have the resources to do so.  I am not saying hand out money, or end up being late because 'Jenny' told you to stop and say hi to the homeless.  I am just pointing out that it is those types of people that have the money and the education to make important decisions as voters, as non profit board members, as politicians, as lawyers or judges....you get the picture....the majority of the decision makers come from a privileged background.  It is a weird mix of seemingly well off hipsters and homeless in my neighborhood.  Lets start talking and getting to know our neighbors and STOP THE IGNORING of what is IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE.

On a personal level, this also stung too true to how people treat me during 'checking in' conversations.  I can feel the sighs or the rolls of the eyes when I try and explain how challenging it is to raise a son with special needs, work, find time for my other son and my marriage.  Everyone has challenges, it would be helpful to actually sit and understand them.  Not judge them.  Stop judging and start learning about one another.  Be open, please, or you will miss out on so many important lessons in life. 

Stepping....down....from my soap box now...taking a breath....calm.

Much love,
Jenny