on kindness and gas stations
So for some of the last few times I went to the gas station a guy( whom i presume is homeless) asked me for a dollar. And I completely ignored him.
However as I passed him on the way home last night I felt this slight pang of guilt. I am not sure why exactly because technically I dont owe him anything.
But you see that really isnt the point. The point is whether I can continuously see another human being in a state of need and not try to help.
You see, whenever we see homeless people we immediately think, you should just get a job.My heart tells me that things are not always as simple as that.
I can just imagine people saying, rog you are a bleeding heart liberal. But whats the alternative? be an uncaring snob?. I mean I dont know what circumstances caused these people to be in their current situation. Who knows it could happen to me? and I would hope that some soul would give me assistance, however small in a time of need.
There is the old cliche you shouldnt judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. come to think of it I agree with this for the most part.
He asks me for a dollar which in the scheme of things is not a big deal. I mean I could try to be all self righteous and say that he should pull himself up by his bootstraps or that he is going to use it to buy drugs. But I wont.The view from a high horse can be tiring sometimes ya know :)
Now maybe I wont give him that dollar everytime, but I would feel a little better if at least some of the times I think he wont totally starve because of my dollar.
Maybe that is a selfish sentiment. maybe I am only giving him that dollar to assuage some guilt.or maybe a litte kindness really is a shot to liven up my mood.
so go ahead, show some kindness. that little bit just might affect both the recipeint and the giver in this human equation.
However as I passed him on the way home last night I felt this slight pang of guilt. I am not sure why exactly because technically I dont owe him anything.
But you see that really isnt the point. The point is whether I can continuously see another human being in a state of need and not try to help.
You see, whenever we see homeless people we immediately think, you should just get a job.My heart tells me that things are not always as simple as that.
I can just imagine people saying, rog you are a bleeding heart liberal. But whats the alternative? be an uncaring snob?. I mean I dont know what circumstances caused these people to be in their current situation. Who knows it could happen to me? and I would hope that some soul would give me assistance, however small in a time of need.
There is the old cliche you shouldnt judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. come to think of it I agree with this for the most part.
He asks me for a dollar which in the scheme of things is not a big deal. I mean I could try to be all self righteous and say that he should pull himself up by his bootstraps or that he is going to use it to buy drugs. But I wont.The view from a high horse can be tiring sometimes ya know :)
Now maybe I wont give him that dollar everytime, but I would feel a little better if at least some of the times I think he wont totally starve because of my dollar.
Maybe that is a selfish sentiment. maybe I am only giving him that dollar to assuage some guilt.or maybe a litte kindness really is a shot to liven up my mood.
so go ahead, show some kindness. that little bit just might affect both the recipeint and the giver in this human equation.
posted by Splint at 2:45 AM
2 Comments:
Not bad, Splinty. Not bad. Of course you know you had my support from "bleeding heart liberal", lol. Even though you claim that I "peep" at your blog, every now and then you still say something that is worth "peeping" at.
--Marie
:) hear hear Rog. This really touched me.
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