Random Thoughts For a Thursday Afternoon
Not much is happening in Augusta these days. Well, I mean, I am sure a lot is happening in the city itself, but not in our household specifically. The weather has been spectacular the past few days. The frustrating part is it is great weather to go out and start working in the yard, but alas, we are without. So, for all of you who do have a yard - enjoy it!
We are gearing up for visitors almost every other weekend for the next two months. It will be great to get some of our friends out here and show them our new home and my old stomping grounds. Plus, I am ready to entertain! For someone who loves to throw a party, I am going through serious withdrawal. I have a feeling that I am going to be doing a lot of baking and cooking for everyone. I've already gotten several ideas from my latest Southern Living.
We had an interesting event happen Monday. Christian woke me up at 6:00 in the morning and told me there was a homeless man sleeping on the landing of the stairs outside our apartment door. Mind you, we are on the third floor. So, I get up, get my cell phone and watch out the peep hole as Christian goes to get him to leave. I told Christian, before he went out the door, to knock on our neighbors door and get Doug to "back him up". Our landing has two sets of stairs. One goes north and one south with a dividing wall and two doors in between. The apartment doors open onto the south side of the wall. This guy was on the north side. Christian opens the door closest to our apartment and Doug opens the one next to his apartment door. The guy is sleeping on the other side of that door, and ends up getting banged in the head. Of course, he wakes up and leaves, no arguments, nothing. When Christian gets back from working out, we discuss the morning adventure over our morning cup o' joe. Christian is talking about whether he should have called the cops, etc. I spent the morning wondering if I should have given him something to eat. Interesting the two different views. Christian is much more skeptical. I feel bad for not helping the guy.
It is hard to know when to reach out and when to be on guard. Many times, one comes across a person who seems down on their luck and they are just trying to scam you. We have experienced that. It is easy to not trust, but at the same time, if you can buy someone a lunch, isn't it your duty? It is a sad state when you do not feel you can help someone because you fear your own safety.
On another note, I am over half way through the Da Vinci Code. That is an excellent read. I laugh at all the controversy it is causing. I wouldn't say that the literature is excellent. Not a Faulkner or Hemingway, but a fun, fast read.
posted by Heather @ 5:36 PM
4 Comments:
Yeah, Summer and I had a guy try to scam us in downtown Greenville. He saw us, turned around and walked off, and then doubled back so he could sneak up behind us. We ignored the little creep, and left.
I think often times we're quick to judge. "This guy's asking me for money/food/etc, he MUST be scamming me!"
The sad thing is, some people just sincerely get down on their luck and end up on the street. No family, no friends... no one to help them. Then they're met with unforgiving strangers who hurl obsenities and 'get a job!'s at them.
I don't know... maybe we shouldn't give every bum a dollar, but at the same time is it out of our capacity to show them a little kindness? So the guy's sleeping on the stairs. Or asking for some change. He's not dangerous. So why treat him like you're better than him?
Unfortunately, there are some people who are dangerous. You do have the homeless who suffer from some mental illness and are not on meds. The problem is, you don't know which ones are harmless and which ones think you are evil and they need to kill you - especially if they are asleep. None of that has anything to do with think you are better than someone else. I hope I don't treat anyone like I am better. I may have certain advantages, but they may have a purer heart, etc. I think humans are all basically equal and should be treated as such. It doesn't matter social status, race, education, etc. We are all walking apes.
Oh, I wasn't implying you think you're better...
The sad thing with the mentally ill is just that they're so misunderstood. People equate crazy with evil... and it's not necessarily the case. Of COURSE they can be dangerous, that's not my point... It's just, one of the most frustrating things in my undergrad career was learning about how difficult it is for the mentally ill to get sustained treatment. Some really do need to be hospitalized, but due to the law (WHY are lawyers even involved in the mental health field??), it's hard to keep them in for more than a month or so. So, many of them head right back to the streets.
It's just a sad situation, all-round.
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