The way we treat our most vulnerable citizens . . .
The way we treat our most vulnerable citizens is the clearest mark of a great nation. This realization is straining to become one of my core values. But it had a bit of a road block when I was getting off a plane the other day. Right in front of me was an older woman in a wheel chair. She bordered on obese and a young female gate agent was wrestling her up the ramp. With no room to matriculate a strategic pass, the rest of us shuffled behind impatiently. I said to myself, "Why do we even let these people on a plane?!" Instantly a schizophrenic civil war erupted in the dingy corridors of my soul. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for affirmative action, handicapped accessability, elderly inclusion, etc. I just don't want to be personally inconvenienced. And now, at the end of a semester, I am reflecting again on this principle. You see, students struggling with grades and absences, those on the academic bubble consume more time than any others, especially at this time of the year. Are they worth it? Well, put crassly like that, the answer seems obvious. But my impatiences during the subtleties of being inconvenienced may betray a more sinister reality. Let me be clear though. The question is not whether they are worth it (whoever the 'they' might be). The question is what kind of a nation we will be, or more to the point, what kind of a person I will be. Greatness is in the little kindnesses most unnoticed during moments of the greatest inconvenience. And that I cannot afford to live without.
posted by Mark Moore at
5/09/2006 04:54:00 PM
3 Comments:
I hear what you are saying, especially the larger question of what kind of nation/people will we be, but I struggle with your comparison. Your struggle with showing kindness to the lady on the plane is indeed a flaw that I think we all wrestle with. She can not help that she is in a wheelchair. But from my limited expierence, the students that are struggling with grades and absenses and need that extra grace and kindness brought it upon themselves. They don't study. They stay up all night, "trying to beat that next level." They really like the way the pillow feels on their head at 6:42a.m. Not all of them, mind you, but most of them. Are they worth being kind to? No doubt. But is it wrong to channel your time and energy on those who try? Clearly Jesus showed compassion, kindness, and so on to the disenfranchised, but was it to those who could care less? It seems the "vulnerable citizens" he had this kind of compassion on was either those who could not help it (children, demonized, etc.) or to the disenfranchised who at least tried to follow him (Woman in Lk 17, Blind begger Lk 18, woman at the well Jn 4, many others). "Your faith has saved/healed you."
Again, I am not sure I got at the bigger question you raised, but you are going to have more than enough oppurtunities to show kindess during moments of inconvience. If you were to show the equal amount of kindness and gave your time to all possible inconviences at Ozark alone you might never see Barbara. Reviewing someone's paper in the dorm can be inconveniet to me. I can have two people who need a paper read at 1 in the morning, both on the edge of failine, both "vulnerable citizens." But if one has been working on it all week and one has been golfing all week but typed it that day, I am going to show my "little kindness" to the former.
I could be missing your whole point. I could be being prideful because I think I try and others don't. I don't think so, but maybe. All this to say, I think showing compassion to an obese paralytic is different than showing compassion to a student who could care less. Good words though. Needed words.
WOW. All three of the last three comments were excellent. Let me briefly address each. Arod, let me complicate your question. The more I know about students who submarine their own semesters the more I realize they too are crippled. I ask them privately about their stories and I become shamed by my judgmentalism--had I their story, my resilience would not be near as impressive. Obviously many are lazy and culpable (this is a particularly important message for a generation that eschews any kind of personal responsibility). But I am increasingly skeptical about my own ability to judge or arbitrate other's failures. On the other hand, the woman in the wheel chair may be far from innocent in her own circumstances. Often our self-destructive, selfish, and sinful behaviors have consequences that inconvenience others. Now what do we do? Perhaps Jesus' advice in Matthew 7:1-2 is most appropriate.
Jeremy, my hear breaks for you right now because you have had to wrestle in pragmatic terms with the investment of time and energy. Because we are limited creatures in space and time there are always those who get short-changed when we make those hard decisions about who receives our love, time, and attention. The question is seldom right verses wrong but better vs. best.
Naomi, your rich experience may be the model for us to follow. This may be the best. I suspect I know what Henri Nouwen would say. I'm just not ready to forfeit the fellowship of those who inspire me intellectually or affirm me socially. (I almost deleted that last sentence, not because it was untrue, but because it was too true, too revealing).
"I'm just not ready to forfeit the fellowship of those who inspire me intellectually or affirm me socially."
Mark,
ouch. Way to cut to the heart.
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