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Friday, 16 March 2012

Trixie Cruz: He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother


by Rose Beatrix C. Angeles (Trixie Cruz-Angeles)
Original post on December 01, 2008

(www.projectpearls.org)

Am I my brother's keeper?

The other day, I walked past a man -- a boy really, sleeping in the street. He lay amid a pile of garbage exhausted from his daily race to survive.

I was busy, I had places to go. I had done it before -- walked past the least fortunate among us, trying to dismiss them from my mind. I too have my own race to run, a family to provide for, a nation to save. Things to do!

But not that day.


Maybe it was his position. He was half- leaning, half-sprawled against an electric post, amid the detritus of someone else's party. He looked as though, he had stopped for a while, just to rest, but exhaustion drove him to sleep.

I had to look closely to see if he was dead. When I approached him, I noticed he was breathing. My companion pulled me away. Stop. He said. You cannot help the whole world. You can only help yourself.
Against my better judgment, I walked away. I had dinner with friends, came home and went online. My world must seem quite alien to that man. But if I thought I had left him behind, I was wrong. This man is human, and like all humans, has the power to touch others. We are all connected. And as he drew in breath, he was connected still.

I do not feel daily pain and hunger. But I do feel his hunger. I know he suffers. Yet we are taught to look away.

We are taught to refuse to give to obviously hungry children and adults whose lack of opportunity compels them to abandon all dignity. We are taught to look at the poor with suspicion. Beggars are syndicates. Street children buy glue. The poor are lazy and sell their votes. They're the ones who must bear the blame for our politicians' excesses. Ad nauseam.

By these words, we comfort ourselves and walk away. We train ourselves not to hear or see them. But we are all connected. I have seen a hungry man on the street, and I walked away. My actions did not change him. It changed me. I had refused to help a fellow human being. But while he remained hungry, I have been diminished.

To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ

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