everyone is vulnerable (July 31, 2007)
Why do we judge? Why do we have harsh words for people in their most
difficult of times of misery or hopelessness? We want to admonish, shoot,
or commit the insane when they shout out their pain. I did it the other day
when a homeless guy asked me for money. I gave him a diatribe about
the number of times that he has asked me. It made me feel better than
him. It made me feel like he should be doing something for himself, and I
was actually helping him. It made me feel like I impressed the people
around me who were thinking the same things.
The problem is that everyone is susceptible to being right there where he
is now. Life gets to people in ways that no one can fully comprehend.
Certain elements of life affect people differently, and when a life collapses
under societal pressure, human beings like to pounce. Pounce in a way
that we can’t admit to the possibility that that could be me begging for
money. Most people in our culture are fully entrenched in resources that
provide a security that alleviates the fear of being on the street. However,
being vulnerable is everyone’s greatest fear, and homelessness is the
ultimate symbol of vulnerability.
On that day when I pounced on the weak, I must have been feeling
extremely vulnerable to something. Maybe, an ounce of empathy would
have been better since we were both in the same helpless position.
Maybe, we judge the harshest on those that we most fear the depths to
which we may fall, or envy the heights that we may never attain.
(c) kenneth martin
Why do we judge? Why do we have harsh words for people in their most
difficult of times of misery or hopelessness? We want to admonish, shoot,
or commit the insane when they shout out their pain. I did it the other day
when a homeless guy asked me for money. I gave him a diatribe about
the number of times that he has asked me. It made me feel better than
him. It made me feel like he should be doing something for himself, and I
was actually helping him. It made me feel like I impressed the people
around me who were thinking the same things.
The problem is that everyone is susceptible to being right there where he
is now. Life gets to people in ways that no one can fully comprehend.
Certain elements of life affect people differently, and when a life collapses
under societal pressure, human beings like to pounce. Pounce in a way
that we can’t admit to the possibility that that could be me begging for
money. Most people in our culture are fully entrenched in resources that
provide a security that alleviates the fear of being on the street. However,
being vulnerable is everyone’s greatest fear, and homelessness is the
ultimate symbol of vulnerability.
On that day when I pounced on the weak, I must have been feeling
extremely vulnerable to something. Maybe, an ounce of empathy would
have been better since we were both in the same helpless position.
Maybe, we judge the harshest on those that we most fear the depths to
which we may fall, or envy the heights that we may never attain.
(c) kenneth martin
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