Today, I met a man named Cody.
He was sitting down in a very sunny spot and looked like he might be thirsty. It was a busy corner but most people passed him by, not even acknowledging that there was a person there.
Cody is probably about my age. He is a very talented artist and likes to draw cartoon characters and design tattoos. Self taught artist might I add and very polite.
Why am I telling you about Cody?
I shared only a few minutes of my time with him, but I was impacted by him probably more than I impacted him. Unfortunate circumstances have led his path on a train going the opposite direction of mine. I desperately wanted to take him with me on my train – change the direction of his path. Could it be as easy as giving him a new ticket?
This week as I spend some time thinking and learning about urban poverty in Chicago, I can only be thankful for the journey life has taken me on so far. How did I get here? How did he get there? What if life circumstances put me on his train too?
Homelessness is a struggle for me. I don’t want to give away a few dollars and feel like I did my good deed for the day. No, it has to be more than that. Learning that service is not about me is a funny and paradoxical lesson, but an important one. Sure it can feel good to give a sandwich to a hungry person or a water to a thirsty one, but the person that matters here is the recipient not the giver.
Service in my eyes should be an interaction between two humans, where you are face to face, sharing time, food, or experiences that acknowledge the humanness of both people. Humans all have the same essential desire to know and be known.
It’s impossible to reach all of the people in a city by passing out sandwiches and water bottles, but maybe if one person has an attitude shift, then it will spread like a wildfire. Will you walk past the man on the corner? Or make eye contact with him and acknowledge him as another person – human to human.
Will you be the one to light the fire or put it out?
