By james art 
A few weeks ago, I met with my infinitely kind friend for catching up after winter over coffee.
With our cold noses, our brains need some caffeine and our stomachs that were rolling for breakfast, we turned to coffee with a black hat.
A woman outside Ben and Jerry shouted, her voice falls apart with every syllable. The same woman is usually there.
“Ladies,” she turned directly to us. “Can you save any change?”
Our lush conversation stopped suddenly. An unhappy feeling was resting in my chest as we made the silent decision to go to her.
A mistake of sadness smeared with a wave of caution in my stomach. Then I was left with a dark cloud of guilt that I was afraid of a practical helpless woman.
Every day we walk with non -casual individuals, weighing whether to approach them or ignore them, our decision is determined by whom we perceive as worth our time.
The tears began to cloud her eyes as she poured her story. Her voice was impatient, and she speaks quickly, as if she would move away at any moment.
“My sister gets an emergency operation and I just need $ 20 for a bus ticket to go to see her. It’s just so difficult and I don’t know what to do, “she said.
The muddy sadness sharpened, and my guilt stormed as I was fishing through my wallet as I tried to avoid flashing my emergency twenty.
After giving her a few dollars, our wife thanks us with equal surprise and sincerity. She continued to tell us about the difficulties of her life. We talked about the time and decorations of the church street until she thanked us again and went for coffee.
Once on coffee, we thought about how completely this woman freezes and wondered if we were the only two people she would talk to that day.
We talked about many times when we went with other people and decided to put our heads and ignore her how he felt contradictory to our character.
Each time she called, she climbed a little humanity and often did not receive any in response, reaching for a moment of connection just to be ignored.
Whether she wanted money or chat is the question. She called for help and many times we didn’t give her time to listen.
In different circumstances, people would respond without hesitation. I was wondering about the person you would have to become – how it would have to appear and act – to be respected by the residents of Burlington.
Returning to my conversation with KC Williams, I developed this exchange, and the next time we deliberately ignored the few.
“[People] Don’t ask Unhouseed access, “Williams said. “They want to be as far away from poverty and struggle.”
When we put our heads down, they announced that she was not part of us, she was not enough to be heard.
As we did not spend the minimum energy and time needed to talk to it, we were separated from its struggle and maintained the relationship we could instead give.
Even without a physical exchange of money, these interactions are still transactional.
Like the currency, every time we listen to intensely and answer each person in thought, gives a little of themselves.
“We accept the invisibility of a whole group of people and we act as if they are just not there,” Williams said. “This is part of this question where we decide to spend our humanity.”
When we stopped and gave the woman some of our money, but more importantly, our time, we listened and looked her in the eyes as the full person he was.
While my friend and I sat and drank our coffee, the woman was stirred by the cold and used the bathroom. She then bought a croissant. I couldn’t help but think if this was our money.
I was wondering if I had just seen our transactional humanity playing in real time, as our conversation fulfilled a momentary need for a relationship.
This battle to choose where we spend our humanity is something I think I will spend the rest of my life inventing.
For now, all I can do is try to help the people around me through the power of the relationship, as I understand some of these unhappy things, are just completely beyond my strength.
Let the guilt redirect me, but it does not consume me. Let my attention lead to sharing some words for empowerment.
And let these interactions show humanity that each of us possesses.
Please Olivia.
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