Indifference

[Warrigal]

Posted on Facebook this week

When Jesus Came to Birmingham

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do, ‘
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.

G. A. Studdert-Kennedy

You can substitute any other city that you are familiar with and decide whether the poem has validity for your location.

 

[Ralphy1]

What's the problem? She might just be taking a nap or passed out drunk...

 

[Bobw235]

Several years ago I was up very early in Washington DC while there on business. I headed out for a long walk and a few blocks from the White House came upon a scene that caught me by surprise. In the middle of the sidewalk lay a young man, maybe in his 30s. He was sleeping, likely passed out on drugs/alcohol. Clearly homeless. As I took in the scene from afar, a passing bystander paused over him, whipped out his cell phone and snapped a picture, before strolling along. Always struck me as very cold and callous. I saw two cops on patrol coming towards the young man, so I moved on.

 

[Warrigal]

I had a similar experience one evening in the city. Hubby and I had just been to Symphony in the Park and were returning to the train station when we passed by a homeless man lying asleep in the tunnel leading to the underground. His pants had slipped down and his backside was mostly exposed. People were sniggering as they walked past. We walked past too but on the way home I felt very bad that I had not covered him with my shawl. I wasn't exactly indifferent but I still passed by like the Priest and the Levite. I felt I had failed as a human being.

 

[Manatee]

I was in Minneapolis once when it went down to -29. The cops were picking up any homeless they saw and taking them in so that they wouldn't freeze to death.

 

[Warrigal]

What's the problem? She might just be taking a nap or passed out drunk...

When sleeping outdoors on a hard surface a nip or two of sherry does help you to get to sleep. It makes you feel warmer and more relaxed. I found this out when hike camping in the Blue Mountains. The difference in my case was that my sleeping rough was a choice that I made.

 

[anodyne]

Walking to the convenience store one afternoon I saw a man laying on the sidewalk across the street. I checked on him, thinking maybe he'd had a fall or a heart-attack or something. I shook his shoulder and said "Sir! Are you ok?" He woke up and said he was just drunk, and I told him he should go lay down under a tree that was just several feet away...the sun was fierce!

 

[Ray]

Except for the joy of guilt or sense of "holier than thou" from such instances, what would anyone have the guy reading his book do??

 

[Warrigal]

Maybe he is doing what he can.

The young girl is clearly vulnerable and he could be watching over her while she sleeps. It is possible that when she wakes he will buy her a meal, or encourage her to come with him to a local shelter.

It is also possible that he himself is unemployed and is emotionally unable to take on someone else's problems.

Possibly it is also an example of how we do not see the need of someone else when we do not want to.

There is a certain Schrodinger's cat element to the photo. The meaning is indeterminate, as is the outcome.

The photo is simply a piece of stimulus material that is designed to have each of us question ourselves. The real question is if I were the guy in the photo, what should I do?