In the car this morning Dex asked me if it was legal for someone to sleep in their cars. I told him I was not totally sure but I thought it was illegal. I then I went on to tell him a few months ago we had someone in front of our house that slept in their car for a few days. I recall feeling really angry when I saw them doing so and I think it was because it made me feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable that they had so much less than me, uncomfortable that I saw these two people in this raw snapshot of their life, uncomfortable that their situation might impact me negatively. Digging into those feelings, I have a hard time seeing someone less fortunate than me especially uncomfortably less than me. Thinking through what it would take for me to get to the point that I had to sleep in my car is almost impossible for me to process. I wanted them to go somewhere else, somewhere that I didn’t have to see them or think about their situation.
I think the innercity is similar to that, people sometimes want to look away from people having drastically less than they do. Sometimes when I am driving around my neighborhood, the weight of oppression and poverty is so heavy, I can feel it. I can see in people that they are trying so hard and not getting anywhere. Alex said once that living in poverty is similar to running in jello, you can make progress but it is so much harder.
I told Dex that I judged those people sleeping in their car and that it was wrong for me to do that. He said next time we see someone sleeping in their car we should bring them out bananas. It is so simple but if we give away some of our excess to those that have less, everyones lives would be better and filled with so much more joy.