jr photo
This was going to be a post about the future of the “safety net” and rapidly shifting politics and policy in the year ahead, but in recent weeks the people I encountered in day-to day life made the future real. They will be the most affected by the impending storm of change.
The greeter at the big box store (a retired elementary school teacher), checkout people at the grocery (a sister and brother from Haiti), or the table attendant at Denny’s (whose grace invited Elizabeth to ask if he had been a dancer). They are often working two jobs to make ends meet, to make dreams come true. It is likely your parents or grandparents worked in the service industry, to make your dreams come true. Mine did. All too often they were invisible.
Invisibility is at the core of oppression.
Can simple acknowledgement and respect be pathways to integrity, freedom, and community?
As I go through this holiday/transition season, I will take time and look into the eyes, see the person, say hello and thank you to those emptying trash, greeting people at the door, checking luggage, stocking vegetables at the grocery, shelving books at the library, sitting reception at the doctor’s office, delivering mail, driving the Uber/taxi, and waiting my table.
These are people of dignity, whose lives will change in unimaginable ways in the months and years to come. They have been part of the life we all lead every single day. I will meet each, as I would want my grandparent met.
I need to do this as much for me, to remember our communities, our ties to each other can remain strong in these uncertain times. To possibly even strengthen, if given recognition, respect, and most of all, simple kindness.
