I am a tree....

I was talking to my roommate the other evening. We were sitting in our room, about to go to bed, and she was telling me about her easter weekend. She had gone up to Santa Barbara to visit her boyfriend, and while she was there met a couple that she couldn't stop talking about. She was waiting for her boyfriend to get out of class, and she came across this young homeless couple. She offered to buy them lunch, and they  gratefully accepted. She then sat down on the cement, and for the next hour or so she talked and got to know this couple. As she telling me this story, there was no pity for them. She truly saw past what everyone else sees. She said it was sad to sit there, and watch from their perspective, and see how people treat them. Averting their eyes, so as not to feel uncomfortable or obligated to say or do something. She just kept talking about how great they were, and how much she enjoyed their company. Anyways, it got me thinking-- it was a rude reality check for me. I sit here, and I want to do something to help people. But as I looked back on all the times I've had the opportunity to get to know someone, like this couple, I just give them money and feel like my duty is complete. But what changes our world isnt money. What changes lives isnt buying lunch for them. It is getting to know them. Sitting down, and treating with the same respect and integrity that you would your own mother, or roommate. It is looking into their eyes and seeing a person and a soul, not a charity case. Viewing them as better than yourself.

I don't know, her sincere joy after meeting these people was just beautiful to me. And I wanted to write about it. Because I just think, that is what it's all about, you know? I think so often we give money, or do charity work to make ourselves feel better and fulfill our obligations. When, it really isn't even about us, but we find a way to MAKE it about us, even if we don't realize it. It is about the other person. Or at least it should be. I don't know, something to think about.

Also, if you haven't read donald miller's "a million miles in a thousand years" - you need to. I read it this week, and was so incredibly moved and inspired by it. Touches home on a lot of different fronts. Here is one of my favorite things that he says:

"I am a tree in a story of a forest.... And the story of the forest is better than the story of the tree."