Stereo-typing and misconceptions is an everyday part of life these days. Sad but true. Though I can sit here and urge humanity to look past those preconceived notions it’s going to take a lot than just me here with this one little blog to actually affect a change. That’s the whole concept of passing it forward. If we can keep the positive changes ricocheting from one person to another eventually the whole country will have received the effects of the messages. Well my message today is about the unseen.
The inspiration for this comes from this youtube video I came across one day. Basically they did this experiment in New York where they dressed up peoples family members as the homeless. They placed the disguised family members on the street where the unsuspecting person would pass them by en route to their jobs/destinations. It was sad to see that in these experiments that no one recognized, acknowledged or even glanced at their relatives stationed on the sidewalk. Check out the video below.
The thought that their own family members being homeless or in need of help on the street doesn’t even register to some of us. So we look at the world with rose colored glasses and then at the men, women and children who have nothing and we pity them. Pity them and then try not to touch them. We assume they are homeless because they are lazy and don’t want to work. The idea that they can’t work because they haven’t the means to get themselves off the street doesn’t even compute. How many of you would hire some random tattered individual to work at your establishment? Not many.
You never know what someone’s story is though. Who they were, what they have been through, or what they know. The man you scoff at on street may have had it all but with a single twist of fate it was ripped away from him. The woman you see may have birthed millionaires but simply gotten lost in the folds of the path. You just never know. A little kindness goes a long way. Even if that person is dishonest and trying to use others and is the guy you assumed he was, karma will smile upon you not him. That being said I’m a firm believer of taking care of yourself so don’t be a doormat. Be kind, but don’t go getting run over. Video from youtube about people who didn’t recognize their own relatives on the corner… link
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