The Most Loving Thing We Can Do
Jan 22 2025 Bill Pautler
The Most Loving Thing We Can Do
The Hobos
I was on my
way home from getting a massage one Saturday morning. It was early September and the weather was
perfect. Riding, windows down in my
little red car, I took a left at the red
light. I looked over and there is a
dude standing on the sidewalk holding up this cardboard sign that says:
“AT LEAST GIVE ME THE FINGER”
I immediately stuck my arm out the window and gave him the
finger. He sees me and we both start
laughing. I was on my way home, which
is 3 blocks away, to go for a motorcycle ride.
So, I got home, hopped on my motorcycle and rode down to see them. Anybody who is that audacious I want to talk
with.
I am riding my motorcycle down the sidewalk as I approach
them. It scared them a little at first,
LOL. But I stopped, chatted with them
and gave them some money. The girl
sitting on the sidewalk and the boy holding the sign were both hobos. His parents had been hobos, and her parents
had been gypsy’s. I asked him about the
sign. He said, “People don’t see us and
don’t understand us. We are people just
like everyone else, just with a different lifestyle. I grew up with hoboing in my blood. We pick up odd jobs when we can, but people
are hesitant to hire us. It’s a ‘trust
thing’.” He continued to tell me about
other signs he would fly. Street people
call holding a sign up to panhandle, ‘flying a sign’. He said when he had hair down to his waist,
he would hang a sign on his back that said, “Homeless and Pregnant”. When people stopped to give him money, he
would turn around and they would realize he wasn’t a female, and he wasn’t pregnant. He said some would laugh and give him more
money, but the majority would be angry.
Street people and hobos really appreciate it when people give
them money and yes, they use that money for food, alcohol, and cigarettes just
like we do. But rarely does anybody want
to interface with them. They are like
objects; nuisances or irritants to us ‘civilized people’. Street people remind us that there is
inequality in the world, that there are the haves and the have-nots. And that makes us ‘non-street people’
uncomfortable.
The most loving thing we can do with another person is to
truly see them. To see them without our
predisposed lens of greed, judgement, or fear.
Many times, when we talk with people, we are trying to get
something. Many times, when we talk
with people our focus is on what we are going to say next. Many times, when we talk with people, we are
internally judging their decisions, their thoughts and their lifestyle.
But none of that is seeing people. To truly see someone is to love them.
The next time you are with someone, try and let your mind go
blank. Look them in the eyes. Gazing into someone’s eyes is powerful. Eyes are truly the windows to the soul. Gaze into their eyes. Feel their life force pouring from their
pupils. It is an awe-inspiring
interaction. When you start really
seeing people your life will change. Because
when you know what it is like to see someone, you will be able to see yourself.
C.S. Lewis once said something like ‘empires will rise and
fall, great nations will come and go, but the man who poured your coffee this
morning is immortal’.
There is reverence and awe in truly seeing another immortal Seeing a god that will live forever.
Every thought, every word, every action we have ripples
through all eternity. We are all
immortals either creating in beauty or in ugliness. Every decision either
creates beauty or non-beauty. We get to
choose.
Deeply seeing another is the most loving action we can do!
Deeply seeing the other immortals, allows you to be deeply
seen.
If this story in anyway resonates or inspires you, shoot me a
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Namaste, the Divine in me honors the Divine in you!
Much love bill
Well said.
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