Lately I feel like everywhere I turn the signs are there that as a society we simply do not care for our fellow humans. Seriously, we have become a people that figures it’s every human for them selves and if you got problems well you probably deserve them. In my work, I have been coming across folks who love the idea of helping the poor but….gotta have a but; systems need to be in place to make sure the poor are helping themselves. Despite the fact that here in America we have an economy literally in tatters there is still this belief that people can pull themselves up…damn it, use your fucking bootstraps! Never mind the fact that all some folks have are a busted pair of Payless shoes with Velcro straps. Nope, you and you alone are the master of your fate and if your shit is fucked up then it simply sucks to be you.
I think the folks who most disgust me with this attitude are Christians. This is not about bashing Christians because I am a Christian yet for the past several years as I have struggled with my faith and sought to learn more about the man called Jesus. I see a man that had a great deal of compassion towards his fellow humans, he healed folks, he fed folks and he didn’t tell them to bow down and kiss his feet first. He helped them, plain and simple. Yet thousands of years later we have followers of Jesus who put all types of restrictions on helping their fellow humans, that confuses me. Do these folks not read their bibles? My guess is no, instead choosing to listen to the human who leads their local clubhouse…oops that would be a church.
Yet, don’t get it twisted… non Christians are guilty of bad behavior too. I came across this story today and was stunned. You got a man who didn’t pay his $75 bill to have services from the local fire department and well he had a fire. Only thing is the firemen didn’t do anything to stop the fire from destroying his house. Now I just finished reading an in-depth discussion on the legalities for why the firefighters chose to do nothing and guess what? I say bullshit. Yes, the man should have paid his bill but when humans who are trained and have the ability to help a fellow human and save his house choose to do nothing, it says a lot about us as a people. The firefighters were simply following the rules but sometimes rules are unjust and not worthy of following. Common sense and compassion should trump the rules. Especially when the rules can have negative consequences for our fellow humans.
Just yesterday I was reminded of the rules when I dropped my daughter off at school and since she missed the outside line I had to take her inside the school. The kidlet being who she is, was not satisfied to have me walk her in the building and for her to walk down the hall to her class alone, remember she is 5 and still relatively new to school. Yet the simple act of walking my daughter to her class is against the rules. In order to make that happened I needed to get a visitor pass from the office worker. Never mind that the distance between the office and my girl’s classroom is just a few hundred feet, so I asked for a pass and was met with resistance from the office worker who reminded me that what I was asking for is really against the rules. I hit her with the raised eyebrow and explained this is my child and she wants me to walk her to her class which will only take 2 minutes top. After a brief standoff the worker begrudgingly gave me the pass…guess she thought I was going to back down. But I was reminded once again that sometimes we have rules for the sake of having them, and frankly we as humans need to have the ability to do more than follow the fucking rules. (nothing I have seen at the school makes me think they would be flooded with parents taking their kids to class if this rule were not in effect) This worker has no idea that the past week has been in rough at our house and frankly my daughter was just wanting a few extra seconds with Mom and I needed a few extra seconds with her. Nope, it’s all about the rules.
In order to live in a world that works for us all, I say fuck the rules and let’s find our humanity. Rather than saying we can’t do nuthin for our fellow humans, instead ask what can we do? No matter whom we are, we all have the ability to affect change and change for the better, problem is we are too focused on ourselves.
Girl that hot mess happened because you live in the big city! I would have had to talk with them when the day over. I don’t give a damn about your rules if my daughter wants me to walk her to class, I’m walking her to class. And what?
I disgusted as well, and sad for the man who lost everything. This was well written and to the point and you said nothing but the truth. We all have to do better.