On my way to work the other day I walked by one of the many homeless people that populate the streets of Boston. It was early afternoon in a busy shopping street two days before Christmas, and people were rushing around him in their shopping frenzy. In front of me, a woman in a fur coat dragging a dozen shopping bags just walked by without turning her head to the “spare change?” request of the man. I’ve talked to the man some other times on my way to work so when I walked past him right behind the woman we greeted each other and he said “Merry Christmas”. I started replying but the phrase died in my mouth, suffocated by the compassionate “Aaaaawww thank you!” coming from the woman with the fur coat and the load of shopping bags who was now turning around with the perfect compassionate look in her face and almost running me over in her quest to reach into her purse and give some money to the man.
I felt lucky. Is not often that one has the chance to witness first hand the effects of the Christmas Spirit at work. For at least 30 seconds a man was rescued from his permanent invisibility and a woman became a movie-like heroine, and all thanks to Christmas!
Because that is what these holidays are about, isn’t it? Every year we are reminded by the well intentioned media that we should be more compassionate, more kind-hearted, better persons for the holidays. And we are also showed the best path to do so: buy more and more expensive, consume more, waste more, get the brightest lights for your house, the bigger Christmas tree, the fanciest Santa Claus balloon for your garden, and, in the midst of all that, have a thought and give a little help to the poor (isn’t it amazing how lazy these people are? Can’t they just get a job for God sake?). Oh, and peace in the world, of course.
Who cares if our governants and our way of life are the main threat to peace all year round? Why worry about the powerful stealing less instead of the poor being given a little bit more? The system is great for a few, and the rest, well the rest can get the crumbs and be thankful.
Color light bulbs, bright wrapping paper, big bows, expensive useless presents. Christmas postcards, Santa Claus hats and a thousand versions of “Rudolph the red nose reindeer” hammering our brain from the speakers of every store and office. Bigger, brighter, louder! Because everything is allowed when it comes to maintaining collective brainwashing and manipulated consent and covering individual alienation and void ness.
By the way, the picture is not Disneyworld, is not a scene of a movie, is not taken out of a TV commercial for light bulbs. It’s a real house in Boston.
3 Comments:
You brought out two important and interesting facts. We need to expand our compassion to a year round activity, not reserve it to the Christmas/Holiday time and excesses are always bad, goes without saying that lighted house like that would have blinded Santa on his way from North Pole. I am also perplex by the fact that you have known that man (“spare change”) for sometime and yet it hasn’t help change his circumstance. Is there anything that can be done about his situation or is he a fixture at that spot just to reassure everything is honky-dory. Hope to hear from you!
Well, of course the fact that I see that man -and the at least other 4 people that stand regularly in the same street- , talk to him and sometimes give him some money doesn't change his situation in the sense that I can't provide him with housing or an income, or anything of the kind. But from the experiences I've heard from friends who have been homeless at some point of their lives, I know that they -as us all- have diffcult stories and complicated reasons why they live how they live. So it is not about us going and "fixing" their situation. A lot of times our way of fixing their situation wouldn't be what they are longing for. For me it is rather about denouncing and fighting a system that leaves out and alienates all those who don't fit the parameters of our crazy capitalist society. And while we do that, just try to treat everybody with the humanity, respect, warmth and empathy -that not compassion- that we ourselves would like to receive.
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