Good hump of the week to ya! It’s Wednesday and Go-Go Juice is flowing quickly this week. How’s your juice brewing? There’s been an explosion to new job leads this week – four times more than I’ve seen in the last few months! Grant you, my observation is with the hospitality industry mostly. But to me, it’s a good sign in our devastating economy. Today, however, I wish to bring attention to something that just shocked me – all who know me, know that I am a huge believer in the human spirit.
I constantly raise people up on pedestals for their courage, their creativeness, their support for others, for their genuine overall humanity. Now, what I’m about to mention does not reflect on the overall American Public, but a small few individuals took my guts, my heart, my soul and ripped them to shreds after learning that a hero perished while others just walked on by, walked over and gawked over his dying body. Sound familiar? You bet! I’m sorry to say, but when I learned that a homeless man who tried to help a woman victim from perpetrators, had been stabbed viciously in his ultimate act of kindness, that his only reward was ignorance, betrayal and utter repugnance from the public who didn’t give a damn.
If you are not familiar with the story, a homeless man in NY City, witnessed a woman being robbed. His immediate response was to help her and during the struggle, he was stabbed. His efforts allowed her to run away to safety and caused the perpetrators to run in a separate direction. The man fell to the ground, on a sidewalk in front of an apartment building entrance, bleeding profusely where people just walked on by without offering to help. How do we know what happened? It was all caught on tape, from beginning to end. The general consensus was that local New Yorkers have developed a pre disposed opinion of strangers lying on the ground – that they’re homeless and usually drunk or drug affected and don’t want to be involved. And, was he judged to be an alcoholic or addict because being homeless, he wore tattered clothes, or looked a bit unclean, or his hair was scraggly? Why are the “homeless” labeled in such manners? Since when was being poor considered a sin? And I have to ask, for those who consider themselves self righteous who don’t drink, smoke, or use foul language, what then is your vice, because we all have a vice and we all have committed a “sin”.
Now, folks, I am a mutt of religious backgrounds, but one of tremendous great faith. There is a world famous saying coming to mind. You know it too. “Let He Who is Without Sin Cast the First Stone”. Since when has society decided that humanity has its limitations? Ok – how many people sent help to Haitians who may have been drunk, drug addicts, thieves, mobsters, etc? But that didn’t stop people from helping to save lives, now did it?
I want to send the message loud and clear – we are a society of imperfect people. Many strive with due diligence to improve, change or effect ourselves in such ways that we hope to be better tomorrow than we are today. Some have extreme challenges to accomplish that as well. And yes, there are those who have given up. But when a life is suspected to be at harms risk, even if you do think the person lying on the sidewalk, or slumped over abnormally in chair or a bench, is not worth a minute’s time to determine if an authority figure should be involved? And for that matter, if a person who has given up on life is lying on the ground somewhere at sometime, shouldn’t authorities have him or her moved anyway to prevent further hazards? Come on, people.
I certainly hope that those who walked passed this man, saw the news, took a gasp when they recognized the scene and realized that they contributed to this poor man’s death. I hope they realize that they could’ve have helped to save his life had they been responsive just by being little more “human”.
We must look out for one another no matter our circumstances. If you find yourself in a similar situation and I pray that you don’t, but if so, please don’t look the other way. You’re immediate judgment may be tainted wrongly and you just might save the life of another person who was supposed to impact someone else positively later down the road. I suggest you read a book by Mitch Albom “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. We all impact each other in ways we may not necessarily see. Enjoy the rest of your day. Sip your Go-Go Juice slowly today while reflecting on these issues. It’s your own humanity at stake.
Many Blessings!
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