Humanity

We live in a world where the disparity of civilization has become so saturated with oblivion. We have become so desensitized by the plight of society that we fail to notice the despair in the world. We are a society driven by labels, symbols of status, significance and wealth. We don't buy clothes, we buy brands; we don't buy cars, we buy logos; we don't eat food, we eat locations. It's where we are, who we know and what we can afford or own that defines us... at least that what it seems...

Why is it that the biggest epicenters for big business in this world are also some of the largest havens for the poor? Is it coincidence or convenience? Why the enormous division of wealth? I know, its the age old dilemma, when there are rich there are also poor. I am not arguing for communism I am just wondering why we have become so nonchalant about this "inevitable" dispersion that the less fortunate are continuing to be more and more overlooked.

A man in a three piece business suit steps over a sleeping homeless man as if they were an downed power line... cautious yet unconcerned... and no one notices. If that same man were to trip instead of step, would bystanders help the business man up as he brushes off the dirt that has clung his suit or would they show concern for the man who sleeps with the same dirt.

I'm concerned. I don't want to become so desensitized like the rest of the world that I begin to step over other human beings as well. I want to acknowledge each and every human being I encounter as equal and with significant importance and prestige.

Sometimes I think that a mangled puppy would arouse more concern that a sick homeless individual. That thought troubles me.

Yet with all this said, I am not what I claim I want to be. I walk by most just like everyone else. I give a dollar here and there, and I even buy food for those less fortunate when I am in a good mood but that makes me no more moral than that guy in the three piece business suit.

We should serve others as we would like to be served. Treat others as we are treated... and not just when we are in a good mood or because our selfish ego needs to be stroked with an occasional good deed. I hope that I can grow and mature to the point that I don't simply step over the starving individual hoping for a miracle, but in some small way be a part of their miracle. 

I hope that someone will read this and pay it forward in some small way, some brief gesture of kindness that will have a ripple affect in the sea of life. If we each bought just one hamburger for one less fortunate individual each day, we could feed the world.