fire
This weekend there was a fire in my neighborhood.
My sister and I had people over, and about two in the morning we heard sirens. We opened the front door to see where the fire trucks were headed and smoke billowed in our house.
Everyone at our “get together” put on coats and ran outside to see what was on fire.
When we got one street over we discovered that a recently vacated house was on fire. A family had lived in the home for years but couldn’t pay their bills and was forced to leave it behind in October. There were many neighbors in their pajamas and coats outside in the 20 degree weather discussing their ideas of the cause of the fire. We knew homeless people and drug addicts had occasionally stayed in that house for warmth, and the general consensus was that one of them set the fire.
We stood watching the firefighters put out the fire for a while, and then slowly drifted back to our house.
The whole situation made me think though. People are so strange. We are so drawn to the drama… The fires, the car wrecks, the fights. We instinctively want to know what is happening, who started it, and why. We feel so connected to others standing in the middle of chaos sharing our own ideas and gossiping.
And somehow in all that we lose a bit of our compassion.
When we slow down to “gawk” at a car accident we think more about being stuck in traffic then about the people whose lives are forever changed because of the wreck.
When we see neighbors fight, we are entertained, and we don’t stop to think about the hurt and the anger and frustration that must be inside to bring them to this point.
When we pass homeless people on the street or when we see them going into vacant buildings, we automatically judge what they are doing why they are homeless, and often we lose compassion or chance of understanding.
When I saw there was a fire I ran to it not because I was worried for someone’s welfare, but because I was curious.
When I first though about writing about this, I wanted to tell a fun story about yet another crazy night in the bottoms. I was going to be funny and witty and paint a picture of the drama.
But I am realizing I am so “me” focused. I want to be entertained and entertaining, I want to be challenged, I want to belong and feel accepted. I don’t want to be inconvenienced or responsible.
and maybe it is just because it is Christmas season and its the end of the year and naturally we are prone to reflect on our lives and think about others this time of year, or maybe I just didn’t very much sleep this weekend, but as I sat down to type this something so much deeper then a party and a fire was on my heart.
at what point do I put “me” aside and begin to see things through the eyes of other people?
