Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Who Am I?



I have a letter on my desk, I wrote it to myself while I was at work last week. It says,
No one is “just a,” When the homeless guy walks in, don’t think “oh, it’s just a homeless guy,” Greet him like everyone else, he’s a person, a soul. EVERYONE is important and worth my time and love.
Maybe you can understand the trouble I’ve been having. Every day, we have the same homeless guy come in and take a free sample. In the beginning I would greet him, but I started just ignoring him. Maybe getting a little frustrated, it took me time to put those out, and he just comes and takes one... Every day! It was the day that I thought to my high and mighty self “ugg, it’s just the homeless guy again.” I could literally feel myself looking down on him. I made myself sick.
Did I really think I was better than him? How could I be that judgmental? I reminded me that I was doing that some of my customers did to me; look down on someone. It’s the worst feeling when someone does it to you. We are all children of God, and Jesus says “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” Luke 9:48. The Kingdom of Heaven looks at people differently, and if we claim to be part of that, we need to look at people differently too. A short story by Flannery O’Connor called Revelation, shows a woman who is judgmental seeing a vision of souls marching to Heaven. To her dismay, her and the “proper” people she approves of being at the BACK of the line, and the people she felt were beneath her at the front!
I know humility is not something well thought of in modern America, our fiercely independent selves wholeheartedly fight for our superiority. We daily have to prove we are the best, and deserve our positions/grades/places. When life is ranked and scored and paid according to best and better, it is hard to look at someone and just see a soul. It is essential that we break out of that though (me especially! No one likes a good grade more than me). We need to really SEE people.

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