I am sharing this from a page on Facebook called Bereavement Journal ~ Recapturing the Joy
~Pat
Good Morning Everyone !
In conjunction with a share I posted this morning on behalf of The Peace Art Collection page, (which you may wish to look at before reading this post), I have decided to post the following message and trust none of you will mind.
I would like to share a few beliefs I hold around the homeless people of the world and provide some food for thought in an effort to perhaps shift the perspective much of the world’s population holds towards those less fortunate, a perspective which I believe is rather narrow-minded and somewhat skewed.
There is a huge stigma attached to this issue and collectively, I believe those of us who are not homeless have a responsibility to at least attempt to educate ourselves on what we can and should be doing to assist in eradicating the stigma that we have contributed to having been placed on the homeless.
We now reside in a world where homelessness can no longer be considered less than prevalent, and the the homeless are now a group of diversity.
The world is currently operating in a way that the time will come when the resources we have become so accustomed to will no longer be available. The time will arrive when we are going to be required to become totally self-sufficient. Are you a survival expert? I would suggest that no, the average person who has a home, a job, food, a car, money, etc., would be lost if forced into survival mode. We have become a society of one that depends more on the externals, than on self.
Would this not be the one reason why when we approach a homeless person sleeping on the street, we should do anything but step over them as though they do not even exist? Kindly allow be to be so bold as to suggest that the homeless are the survival experts of the world and have tons to teach. They should be treated with the same level of respect or better yet, even a higher level of respect that we give to those who are not homeless. Every person comes into the world to serve a purpose and perhaps the purpose of the homeless is to be our teachers at the appropriate time. Every person on the planet has value and something to contribute to the betterment of all of humanity. Allow me to share a story about a homeless person. I will paint a picture that perhaps may be far removed from the view some people may have relative to the homeless.
A few years back, someone I know was conducting business in Seattle , WA, a city which is no stranger to homeless people. This person was walking to an appointment, dressed to the nines, and looking rich. The only thing she had with her was an attaché case, no purse, etc. While stepping over homeless people, she came to an intersection and was waiting at a traffic light, when a man poorly dressed, dirty and scraggly looking, wearing an overcoat approached her and said “do you have any money”? She was feeling nervous - sound familiar ? - and replied “no, I don’t” . The man looked her up and down and again said “you sure you don’t have any money”? Again she replied “no” and continued on her way. Upon returning to her hotel from her appointment, she once again met up with the same man who, this time, blocked her way, and said again, “are you sure you don’t have any money”, to which she very nervously this time, replied “no, I have already told you I have no money.” The man slowly reached for his overcoat and started to open it, reached his other hand inside, pulled out a tin can with change in it, shook it in front of her and said “well, how much do you need?”
We all have times in our lives when we are dependent upon others for all kinds of things, including survival, and I would hope that one will begin to no longer underestimate the value of any other human being, regardless of their lifestyle or circumstances.
My wish in this post is for you to take a minute to ponder the foregoing and to always remember that very old adage “never judge a book by its cover”.
~ HUGS ~ Love Deb ♥
In conjunction with a share I posted this morning on behalf of The Peace Art Collection page, (which you may wish to look at before reading this post), I have decided to post the following message and trust none of you will mind.
I would like to share a few beliefs I hold around the homeless people of the world and provide some food for thought in an effort to perhaps shift the perspective much of the world’s population holds towards those less fortunate, a perspective which I believe is rather narrow-minded and somewhat skewed.
There is a huge stigma attached to this issue and collectively, I believe those of us who are not homeless have a responsibility to at least attempt to educate ourselves on what we can and should be doing to assist in eradicating the stigma that we have contributed to having been placed on the homeless.
We now reside in a world where homelessness can no longer be considered less than prevalent, and the the homeless are now a group of diversity.
The world is currently operating in a way that the time will come when the resources we have become so accustomed to will no longer be available. The time will arrive when we are going to be required to become totally self-sufficient. Are you a survival expert? I would suggest that no, the average person who has a home, a job, food, a car, money, etc., would be lost if forced into survival mode. We have become a society of one that depends more on the externals, than on self.
Would this not be the one reason why when we approach a homeless person sleeping on the street, we should do anything but step over them as though they do not even exist? Kindly allow be to be so bold as to suggest that the homeless are the survival experts of the world and have tons to teach. They should be treated with the same level of respect or better yet, even a higher level of respect that we give to those who are not homeless. Every person comes into the world to serve a purpose and perhaps the purpose of the homeless is to be our teachers at the appropriate time. Every person on the planet has value and something to contribute to the betterment of all of humanity. Allow me to share a story about a homeless person. I will paint a picture that perhaps may be far removed from the view some people may have relative to the homeless.
A few years back, someone I know was conducting business in Seattle , WA, a city which is no stranger to homeless people. This person was walking to an appointment, dressed to the nines, and looking rich. The only thing she had with her was an attaché case, no purse, etc. While stepping over homeless people, she came to an intersection and was waiting at a traffic light, when a man poorly dressed, dirty and scraggly looking, wearing an overcoat approached her and said “do you have any money”? She was feeling nervous - sound familiar ? - and replied “no, I don’t” . The man looked her up and down and again said “you sure you don’t have any money”? Again she replied “no” and continued on her way. Upon returning to her hotel from her appointment, she once again met up with the same man who, this time, blocked her way, and said again, “are you sure you don’t have any money”, to which she very nervously this time, replied “no, I have already told you I have no money.” The man slowly reached for his overcoat and started to open it, reached his other hand inside, pulled out a tin can with change in it, shook it in front of her and said “well, how much do you need?”
We all have times in our lives when we are dependent upon others for all kinds of things, including survival, and I would hope that one will begin to no longer underestimate the value of any other human being, regardless of their lifestyle or circumstances.
My wish in this post is for you to take a minute to ponder the foregoing and to always remember that very old adage “never judge a book by its cover”.
~ HUGS ~ Love Deb ♥
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