Why can’t we show more compassion?

I was outside of the downtown mall when I noticed a man standing by the door looking rather bedraggled and cold. When he turned, I saw that he had urinated in his pants and was intoxicated.

I watched as people passing by rolled their eyes in disgust, moved away from him and one person made a unkind remark.

We all assumed he was a loser, wasting his life on booze and drugs. As I continued watching, I wondered why his life had become so hopeless.

But did I ask him or try to help him? No. Would it have been so difficult to give him a cup of coffee? No. Why not? I don’t have an answer or an excuse. I was like them, passing by.

Our society has created a world of disposable goods. We see it every day. There is litter everywhere. Whatever you can think of is at the landfill site, out of sight, out of mind and out of the way.

Today, I saw what some people might consider a “disposable person.” Everything about him — his plight, his existence itself — was pushed to the curb to be swept away and forgotten.

We were all guilty of being part of this, and it is sad that we have become who we are. We hope we have taught our children to be good people, but we adults do not always practise what we preach.

We have the ability to feel love and have compassion, but we limit these emotions to our families and a very small circle of people. We draw boundaries around “my space,” build walls, fence in our yards, lock our doors and draw the drapes because we don’t want our lives intruded upon.

But do we build these barriers to keep people out, or are we building them to keep ourselves in? The bottom line — one doesn’t get involved because all is good in “my little world.”

A. Pomerleau
Lively