Opening My Eyes
In the scheme of things I have nothing to complain about. As I look around me, even briefly, I see others who have a larger daily struggle. People who are homeless and hungry and ones who are fighting addictions. People who don't have a family member to lift their spirits or hold their hands when they are battling sickness or depression. Children in every part of the world who are cyring and are literally numb because they are starving to death. Death knocking at their door when they should be playing on a swing with their friends. Elderly men and women who are in their bed who are in a retirement home wishing someone were coming to visit.
We think ourselves the worse and the poorest yet there are so many much worse off. Today I spent the day volunteering at a day shelter. I actually did not think so much about folks in this situation. Men and women come here to eat, shower and at the same time they receive spiritual healing. My job was to serve food and at the same time I did my best to greet each person and to be more than just a breathing body.
What I noticed today was that almost every person pulled a smile on their face. These are people who are jobless and don't have a home to go to. These are people who have found a way to appreciate what they have, however small. As I poured coffee for some of the guests just the appreicative words "thank you" felt like love. Here are people who don't expect anything and are appreicating me for serving them a cup of coffee. These are people who could be bitter but are not. In fact they seem content and happy. Maybe they are holding on to what they have and just taking it in each day. They make us all wonder what we are complaining about not that what we are going through is not valid or reason for sadness or concern.
I had to think about my own woes today. Those things going on with me that are painful and scary. Those things that are of concern to me emotionally and physically. I had come in to this situation today in a funk and as the day wore on I became less and less negative. I started to see all the things that I had to be grateful for. The more I witnessed today the more valuable I felt about how my life was coming along. My truth came up as "we are all equal". We are where we are suppose to be in life and I am where I am suppose to be in life.
The thing is that we need to understand that our judgements of people who are homeless are wrong. We assume that these people are not smart or that they are lazy. We assume they are not making an effort. We demean them by giving them a dollar and not looking at their face of their pain. We are not that different from them in that we could be them. There are all types of reasons why people end up homeless and workless. Not all of them are as simple as we might like to make it seem.
As you go through your life experiences I want to ask you to consider volunteering and doing something for someone else. Take yourself out of your home and comfort zone and go serve in a soup kitchen or volunteer at a place for women who have been battered. Consider adopting a child and sending a monthly check that would help a child be fed. You and I, we are not so different.
elliott collazo
We think ourselves the worse and the poorest yet there are so many much worse off. Today I spent the day volunteering at a day shelter. I actually did not think so much about folks in this situation. Men and women come here to eat, shower and at the same time they receive spiritual healing. My job was to serve food and at the same time I did my best to greet each person and to be more than just a breathing body.
What I noticed today was that almost every person pulled a smile on their face. These are people who are jobless and don't have a home to go to. These are people who have found a way to appreciate what they have, however small. As I poured coffee for some of the guests just the appreicative words "thank you" felt like love. Here are people who don't expect anything and are appreicating me for serving them a cup of coffee. These are people who could be bitter but are not. In fact they seem content and happy. Maybe they are holding on to what they have and just taking it in each day. They make us all wonder what we are complaining about not that what we are going through is not valid or reason for sadness or concern.
I had to think about my own woes today. Those things going on with me that are painful and scary. Those things that are of concern to me emotionally and physically. I had come in to this situation today in a funk and as the day wore on I became less and less negative. I started to see all the things that I had to be grateful for. The more I witnessed today the more valuable I felt about how my life was coming along. My truth came up as "we are all equal". We are where we are suppose to be in life and I am where I am suppose to be in life.
The thing is that we need to understand that our judgements of people who are homeless are wrong. We assume that these people are not smart or that they are lazy. We assume they are not making an effort. We demean them by giving them a dollar and not looking at their face of their pain. We are not that different from them in that we could be them. There are all types of reasons why people end up homeless and workless. Not all of them are as simple as we might like to make it seem.
As you go through your life experiences I want to ask you to consider volunteering and doing something for someone else. Take yourself out of your home and comfort zone and go serve in a soup kitchen or volunteer at a place for women who have been battered. Consider adopting a child and sending a monthly check that would help a child be fed. You and I, we are not so different.
elliott collazo
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