As we now know, we have suffered an official recession and there are many people who used to give a coin or two to those who were homeless or close to it, who now find themselves on the edge. As difficult and heart wrenching as this is, the strange silver lining of Covid 19 is helping us to see each other with human eyes.
The song Human Eyes is a celebration of the good side of humanity. When we want to understand why a person ends up in a situation that we would ourselves not want to be in, we show how good human beings really are. "I wanna see you with Human Eyes" has been the mantra of so many people who do want to help and try to walk in the shoes of those who suffer. None of us plan to be poorer or homeless or sleep on our friend's couch or have to line up at Centrelink (humiliated) while still sleeping in the car with the kids. If we look into the eyes of someone we often glean so much, so much that is good about them. We are taught by the Scriptures that human beings are actually in essence good. It seems we can sometimes see our flaws and think that human nature is essentially bad but that isn't accurate at all. God saw all that was created and saw that it was good.
The 'streets are watching, waiting' indicates that there are dangers for those living out there and they are 'anticipating love and a destiny' because there are so many who just don't want to be there and are yearning for someone to care and help them become empowered to their true life purpose. "Is there someone you want to be in your humanity?" Our eyes are the windows to the soul and just by listening to those who are needing us will be one way to be Christ to others. "Eyes that aren't afraid to give and listen to the needs." We also know that the best we can do at the moment is to keep our eyes open and our hearts willing to be compassionate to ourselves and those who come our way.
Our faith is all about relating to one another and being aware of our interconnectedness. When we 'see a man who's dressed in rags' we know he's not doing so well. We know by a glance that 'that young girl is heading for a permanent vacation." Our intuition can be such a tool for us to use in even the smallest acts of kindness. There are so many people we don't expect to be homeless that don't fall into the stereotypes. Who have you noticed lately that was homeless on your streets? Was it your typical stereotype or someone unexpected?
he best things in life are free so even if we can't solve the world problems, we can act with love, trying to see the other side or even lend a hand. Go gently with your lens and see if your class can do something tangible this week to help raise awareness of the homeless.