It is interesting to think how God sees people, randomly moving within towns and cities and between states and countries, little ants....moving onward with our journey, but essentially alone.
Yes, we have the group of people who know our intimate thoughts and who know our weakness and strengths, those who know our favorite color, our favorite restaurant, our favorite way to sleep. We have the persons that love us and make us feel safe in their arms... But what about those that don't? What about the little tiny ants who move through the crowd alone, afraid of human contact? An airplane is a perfect way to be sitting right next to one of those people and yet never know their inner struggles.
and you know why this is? People are scared of opening their intimate thoughts to others, they are scared of sharing a moment with another, even if it it's a mundane moment, a smile, a laugh, an acknowledgement.... Try to look someone right in their eye when they talk to you.... You will find that most of the time people avoid your gaze, and why is that? Once again, the fear of letting people in. This is especially true when a person speaks to a stranger.
I tried this theory while I traveled to San Diego. On my last night, I sat at the bar at one of the local seafood restaurants and after I had ordered, the bartender a nice lady probably in her early forties and a native of the area, started to make small talk, as most bartenders tend to do. While we spoke, I looked her straight in the eye whenever I answered a question, and attempted to continue doing so whenever she spoke, which I'm positive she found disconcerting because she sought another conversation with a recently arrived couple and left me to enjoy my delicious dinner.
But this is how we are as human beings, we are considered the most intelligent of beings, at a higher level than any other mammal on earth, but yet our senses are so clouded we cannot recognize a need in someone even if it's staring us straight in the face. How many people do we work with, or work out next to, or even talk to everyday that are experiencing struggles in their lives, but we are too blind to see it?
It's read once that a study was conducted about the link between animals, such as a dog or cat, with humans. A dog was placed in a room with a few people and some one those people had suffered a great loss or had something happen to them which caused sadness. The people were instructed not to call to the dogs, and the dogs, although not prompted, more often than not, sought the company of those specific people that were sad, or troubled, even though the dog had never seen any of those person's before. Isn't that amazing?
We should strive for that in life, to set aside our own interests to find commonality with others, to become close to people, especially those that love us the most but that we keep at an arms length and perhaps we will learn much more about ourselves.
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