Human Connection
It’s been awhile since I have sat down to write anything, but I felt obligated to write about this as it has been weighing on me since earlier this week. As many of you probably know, I commute to the city twice a week for school on Bart. It’s not a surprise that many homeless people choose to ride Bart to panhandle, sleep or to get a cheap ride to the city. This week, I had an experience that completely changed my way of thinking and made me question what kind of world we live in.
I was sitting on Bart with my headphones in when I noticed a homeless man get up from his seat and walk toward the center of the train. This is nothing new, I see homeless people all the time on Bart and honestly, I don’t even give it a second thought. The man started speaking and for whatever reason, I chose to pause my song and listen to what he had to say. He started speaking about how he’s homeless and how embarrassing it is to be homeless in this world. Then he said something that hit me really hard. He said, “I see hundreds of people every day on Bart and most of the time, they don’t even give me a second look. Yes, it’s embarrassing to be homeless and yes, it’s embarrassing having to ask complete strangers for help…but I would much rather be starving than to feel invisible like I do every single day. I would much rather go hungry then to say good morning to a train full of people and have them ignore me.”
What he said made me think about the way I treat others. If I am being completely honest, I ignore homeless people every time I ride Bart. And, again, if I am being completely honest, I have never once thought about how they might feel being ignored by me. How hard would it be for me to give them a simple, “good morning” or smile as I am trying to find my seat? I guess I try to avoid because I hate telling people no and I fear that they will ask me for money and I don’t have any to give them, so I avoid them all together.
It really saddened me what the man was saying. So often we treat homeless like they are lesser. I have seen many people riding Bart be so incredibly rude to these people. Have we completely lost what it means to show kindness? Even when the man was speaking, 90% of the train wouldn’t even look at him or say good morning. This hurts my heart thinking about how so many people are probably lacking what is vital for survival, human connection. It’s so easy to say hello and it takes little to no effort to smile at someone. They are people just like you and me. It is not our job to judge them or their situation. It is not our job to plaster a label on them and think of them as lesser than us. This situation had me thinking a lot about if I were in the man’s shoes, I would want someone to say good morning to me.
I think this world as a whole is lacking human connection. We don’t even know how to have a conversation anymore without pulling out our cellphones. We can’t even go on a date without checking to see how many likes our most recent post got. Hell, I can’t even walk to class without someone bumping into me because they are too busy looking down at their phone. What the HELL are we doing? Life is passing by and we wonder where our time is spent. It’s spent looking at a tiny screen and being obsessed with keeping up with the lives of total strangers. This man on Bart had me thinking a lot about human connection in my own life and how much time I spend ignoring those around me because my face is glued to my phone. I am saddened that I never once thought about the perspective of the homeless. I am saddened that my mind would be so selfish to justify not even saying hello as they make eye contact with me as I walk by.
I am going to try and do better. Smile at someone who is looking at me or just say good morning to a stranger every now and then. I am going to try to stop living in my phone and actually appreciate the world around me. Life is passing by and I am stuck checking everyone else’s facades on social media. I just ask that we all consider how the other party feels in any given situation and I ask that we all spread a little more kindness, the world is lacking it. Thank you for reading this very unorganized bunch of thoughts I have. Thank you for being you! Lets spread kindness today.
Love Always,
Tay
