The other day I was walking to work in a hurry, I came up to the busy intersection hitting the crosswalk button about a billion times. I then promptly pulled out my phone and starting scrolling through Twitter while sipping my hot Starbucks latte. I didn’t look up until I heard a honk coming from traffic to see the homeless man standing right next to me all along. All of the sudden it occurred to me how spoiled I must look to this man - standing here impatiently waiting to get to my good job, wearing nice clothes, and drinking something warm. So I automatically did the first thing I could think of; I turned and dug out all of my granola bars, apple sauce pouches, and hot cocoa mix (don’t ask) from my backpack and turned to the man. I asked him if he had eaten at all today, when he replied, "no," I held out my smorgasbord of snacks to give to him. He accepted them with gratitude, as he was thanking me is when the light changed and I had to cross the street. While I was crossing; a bicyclist, who had seen the whole thing, rode by me saying, “That was really kind of you.”
What the cyclist said to me that afternoon has stuck with me for days now because I feel like I didn’t deserve his compliment. Even though it was nice of me to hand over my snacks, I really only did it because I felt ashamed for being so unaware of my surroundings and people standing right next to me. My act of kindness may have made that man’s day, but being kind isn’t enough. With the multitude of social problems facing the world today, homelessness is just one of many. To combat these problems, we can’t just be kind. We have to be aware of our surroundings, the people within our surroundings, the problems that they face and the solutions available. Being nice is great, and I highly encourage it in most every situation with most everyone, however being nice isn’t enough to solve problems. We have to be educated, aware, proactive, and nice to tackle all of the problems that life may throw our way. Being kind may not be enough, but its a great start!
