Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Am I to blame?
Last week i was in Starbucks getting my usual... ( Grande White Chocolate Mocha if you want to know)... I'm waiting for the cup to come to me and i look outside- what i see was a little disturbing. It was an old man, picking cans and plastic bottles off the ground.
What?
How?
why?
These questions were running through my head as I thought of my grampa's digging through the garbage... with no where to go, no one to love.
It got me thinking more about our society and what we've become. Was this man in WWII? In Vietnam? And if so, why wasn't he being taken care of? I know how expensive retirment communities are, because i've worked there... but i COULD NOT wrap my head around this man being homeless. And I have seen plenty of homeless people in the past four years... so why was this one so different?
The plain truth is that I take my life for granted. Today i wrote a check and there will no longer be two hundred dollars in my checking account. That's when I should've smacked myself for whining about not having two hundred dollars.
Sometimes i can't believe that i forget. But then, yes, yes why wouldn't i forget? When everywhere i go- it's MONEY MONEY MONEY. I'm doing something in my life that I HATE because I want to insure that my family will have money, that we'll be able to eat and have clothes and go to the beach. Where in japan the most important thing in society is Honor, and in Mexico it's Family. But in the US? Money. Success.
So the question is, am i to blame? Do i have a responsibility to the homeless? I believe i do. My past experiences going on mission trips will determine how i respond to the homeless and how i will vote to help them or how i will personally help them.
It's draining to think about this, but it's nothing compared to what the old man is going through trying to get enough cans and pop bottles.
What?
How?
why?
These questions were running through my head as I thought of my grampa's digging through the garbage... with no where to go, no one to love.
It got me thinking more about our society and what we've become. Was this man in WWII? In Vietnam? And if so, why wasn't he being taken care of? I know how expensive retirment communities are, because i've worked there... but i COULD NOT wrap my head around this man being homeless. And I have seen plenty of homeless people in the past four years... so why was this one so different?
The plain truth is that I take my life for granted. Today i wrote a check and there will no longer be two hundred dollars in my checking account. That's when I should've smacked myself for whining about not having two hundred dollars.
Sometimes i can't believe that i forget. But then, yes, yes why wouldn't i forget? When everywhere i go- it's MONEY MONEY MONEY. I'm doing something in my life that I HATE because I want to insure that my family will have money, that we'll be able to eat and have clothes and go to the beach. Where in japan the most important thing in society is Honor, and in Mexico it's Family. But in the US? Money. Success.
So the question is, am i to blame? Do i have a responsibility to the homeless? I believe i do. My past experiences going on mission trips will determine how i respond to the homeless and how i will vote to help them or how i will personally help them.
It's draining to think about this, but it's nothing compared to what the old man is going through trying to get enough cans and pop bottles.
