I remember his sorrowful eyes when I attempted to have a brief conversation with him. The eye contact was brief, to avoid showing his look of embarrassment if it was any longer. It's the eyes of someone who doesn't want to be where he is, yet he had to. He had no choice. There are many hundred thousands like him in the country. I wonder how do we give, while protecting the dignity of the other. It is as if giving, even a little, is a reminder of the state they are in. What more reminders could there be when they are reminded of it everytime - each time the winds, the rain and the coldness of winter get to their bones, the starvation, the loneliness, the millions of faces passing by and them having nowhere to go.
In the midst of joy and celebration today, may we not forget the ones without a home or shelter, the ones travelling and are away from their loved ones, the ones who have lost and are grieving, and those who are struggling a lot more especially during this holiday season.
Oh who am I kidding? I wrote a post previously on the importance of mobility. But going further than that, it is the social encounters that make up the foundation of human experience living under this same canopy we call earth and sharing this home alongside others. To the first moment babies acquaint themselves with the world, having the first touch, hearing the sounds of a laughter, whimper, sigh, silent smile, and modelling on the external world to distinguish safety from danger, right from wrong, norms from exceptions. It is the everyday social experiences of walking out on the streets and seeing people doing their own thing - the mother reprimanding the child, the young man awkwardly fishing his pockets at the entrance of the bus, a fragile old woman taking her time to walk up the stairs, the sound of aggressive haggling at the market. And then there are those two close friends insisting they each want to pay the bill for the other, a group of boisterous teenagers disrupting your ...
Comments
Post a Comment