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Immune to Misery

5/1/2015

3 Comments

 
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This week I stopped in Miami for a couple of days to take care of some business. I had landed late at night from South America and was not able to fall sleep. 

I had some issues floating around my head and have been trying to find a way to deal with them, so at midnight, I decided to go for a walk  to clear my mind.

While walking around Brickel, the financial district, I saw this figure lying down on the bottom of a building. I could not figure out if it was some type of animal or a person. When I got closer, I realized that it was a homeless man. 

The misery was so big, that I had to take a picture to share it with my kids. Keep in mind; this is in the middle of the financial district, like any other around the world. A place where every day millions of people pass through and millions of dollars switch hands. 

This picture made me think:

How did I become so immune to misery?

Every day we see them on the way to work, to school, to the grocery store;  they have become a normal part of the city landscape and we don't give them a second thought.

 A few years ago, I was a lot more sensitive to this issue; When I saw them, I would ask myself: "What is their story, what happened to them? Where do they come from? Do they have an addiction, do they have a family? I would talk to them...

Many occasions, I would hire them to work for me and would try to find them a place to live. I would buy for them personal hygiene supplies like  laundry soap, deodorant, tooth paste, tooth brush and so on. 

I set 2 conditions for them in order to be able to work with me: they could not smell like alcohol and they had to wash their clothing.

My goal was to give them back their dignity!

Today, I realized that my skin had become thicker, my attitude toward them has changed, I walk by them without giving a second thought; and that is wrong, that is terrible!

I do not have an answer on how to deal with the rising homeless population, but I know that little things, little gestures can make them feel human again. 

I need to make a conscious effort to acknowledge them, to talk to them, to ask them questions and to learn their story. 

It is lonesome to be homeless, and just taking a few seconds to smile or to ask how someone's day is going, can make a big difference in his/her day.

After taking the picture, I realized that my issues, my problems are diminutive in comparison with most of the people. So, why am I so concerned about it and why do I stress so much about it?

But also I ask, when did I become so wrapped up in myself?

3 Comments
Avinash Waman Korgaonkar
5/1/2015 04:14:06 am

very true - it will start from each one of us & not our respective governments

Reply
Nesrin Abaza
5/1/2015 08:41:11 am

It is one touch, one smile and one reach to make a difference. My kids don't even think about it, it has become part of them. They will not allow me to cross a traffic light with out reaching out with a dollar or a bag of potato chips. Whatever they posses at that moment is what they extend. But most importantly, it is the acknowledgement of their existence that matters.

Reply
Stewart Garcia Thomson
5/3/2015 09:04:25 am

Immunity means protection. An extreme emotional response to an event blocks us from acting rationally. We become emotionally immune in order to continue making rational decisions in the face of events. Doctors and nurses become immune to dying or suffering patients as well as the picture of a horrific injury. Health and social workers become immune to the face of poverty or suffering.
While working with illegal immigrants in Southern California in 1988, I was unable to reconcile two realities: the homeless immigrant and my comfortable house in Orange County. Eventually immunity set in and I was able to function more effectively in my work.
A certain level of immunity will allow you - as you have demonstrated - to hear the plight of the homeless without rushing to offer a quick and unreal solution which is only serving yourself to subdue your own emotion.
You are hardly immune to misery. You have simply become emotionally intelligent, which has allowed you to provide real solutions to homelessness: the dignity of a job and recognition by society.

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    Who I am today as a person is largely due to my failures!
    Failures are the speed bumps in life that matter!  They are not regrets but small disappointments that wake up the strength within us! Failures are the process of learning and improving!  Without failures we simply are at a status quo!  

    "success is built on many failures..." 

    Mauricio Fraga-Rosenfeld

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