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Look Beyond the Surface By Lynne Broschak Sometimes what we see on the outside is meaningless. It just doesn't tell the whole story.
y mother once told me, "Believe nothing of what you hear and half of what you see." She didn't mean this literally, but was warning me to be careful of gossip and judging what I see. Sometimes things are not as they appear to be. It's easy to misinterpret what we see without knowing all the facts. For instance, what if I were to invite you to come to work with me today? We'd park in the lot behind the building where I work and walk around to the front door. As we walk along the side street -- oops! Be careful; don't trip over that man sleeping on the sidewalk. He must be a lazy bum! Oh, look at that woman. She's here every day, squatting against the building, drinking coffee, smoking, and bothering everyone walking by asking for change. Why doesn't she do something useful? See that man over there, pushing the cart? He has all his possessions in the cart. He's walking kind of funny, staggering a little, I'd say. He must be drunk again! Don't judge a book These people could very well be my clients. These are the people I work with everyday -- people with mental health issues, various addictions, homelessness, or any combination thereof. In Psalm 7:8 it says, "The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me" (KJV throughout). It is easy to look at someone and figure you know all about them. It's easy to judge someone whose lifestyle is different from ours and sees the world differently -- but we need to look beyond that.
I work with our city's very vulnerable citizens. These are people who live with mental illness, have addictions, or even deal with both. These people cannot advocate for themselves, as they don't have the confidence or the ability to articulate their needs. People who have an acquired brain injury, for example, have a terrible time remembering things like where their money went, where they are going, when they should be there, or where they left their cell phone. There are people who have had such horrendous lives and have made some bad choices. But, if we were to walk in their shoes, under the same circumstances we may have made the same decisions. And we might be where they are now. We don't always know what has transpired in a person's life for them to be in this position. Homelessness
An estimated 150,000 to 300,000 people are homeless in Canada, living in shelters and on the streets. On any given night, 40,000 people stay in homeless shelters. Single men are the largest segment of homeless people in most Canadian cities, but homelessness is rising among both single women and lone-parent families headed by women. Most of the street people I see are more to be pitied than scorned. I know there are a few who have chosen to live on the street: some because they don't want the responsibilities of life, some because they really don't know any other way of living. For them it's an attitude of "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know." But when it's freezing cold outside, I can't believe anyone wants to be on the street.
Pretend to be homeless for a minute:
It isn't a very pleasant scenario, is it? There's also another group of the homeless you may not have considered. Did you know there are a number of homeless working people? These people have low-paying jobs and can't find accommodations they can afford. If they can afford them, they are often uninhabitable. Hidden homeless
Back to the beginning Remember the man we saw sleeping on the sidewalk this morning? It turns out that he had lost his job and his family when he was in an accident. The injuries were bad enough that he could no longer do his job. It hit him so hard that he hasn't been able to regain enough confidence to move forward. One day, however, he will.
Remember the man walking funny, who was pushing the cart? He pushes the cart to help him keep his balance so he won't fall. His legs and hips have been damaged so often that he walks with a very unusual gait and is often thought to be drunk, when he isn't. While we realize that some people take advantage of these kinds of situations by playing the role of a homeless or disadvantaged person, overall we must not judge those in need by putting them into a preformed box. God says, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1). Think upon the words of God in I Samuel 2:7-8, "The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and He hath set the world upon them." Let's look beyond the surface and show compassion and mercy to those whose lives are different from ours. Let us thank God for what we have and pray for those who have so little. Copyright 2011 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Origin of article "Look Beyond the Surface"
Keywords: homeless judging working poor addiction abuse mental illness
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