A Late Lunch In Santa Cruz on the first day of 2010
Turning into a parking lot in downtown Santa Cruz, I noted a man who I assumed to be sleeping, laying halfway across the parking area and the sidewalk. For those of us who live in or visit any major American city, seeing the 'homeless' asleep in a public space is not an unusual sight. Being accustomed to this sight, for a moment I almost parked my car and went off to lunch. I am glad I stopped and took in the following:
The downtown/parking/sidewalk area was busy.
I watched as 'normal' people looked, then moved a 'safe' distance away from the 'sleeping' man.
As I watched, I thought that the man might be dead. How would it look if a dead man was lying on the sidewalk all day?
As I approached the man, a thought ran through my mind. I wish I had a stick, so I could poke the guy, and see if he was ok, without having to get too close. As I was checking out the man, a 'bag lady' approached the man with a good deal more courage than I and she made sure he was just sleeping. Once I was confident that he was just sleeping off a night of exuberance I went off to lunch, telling myself that I would check out the man after lunch.
What I saw reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan, while this man slept off the exuberance of the night before (again my bias), the good citizens of Santa Cruz crossed the man, keeping a safe distance. I wanted a stick, while the unlikely Good Samaritan "the bag lady" had more courage than the rest of us. Why was that? For one - I believe that the good citizens of Santa Cruz (my self included) were worried about how much it might cost us - while the bag lady had no such fear.
Ok so what is the point? One - To be able to see the world around us we must not have a myopic vision. - Two - To be self aware is the beginning to understand what we are seeing. Three - Understand that anything worth doing will cost us something.
Back to the Good Samaritan -it must have cost him a good deal, time lost on his trip, inconvenienced to say the least, dollars lost paying for the man's board and care, all without any payoff.
So for 2010 what am I willing to pay for?
What cost am I willing pay?
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