silly little arguments grab my heart most strongly

October 2, 2008

Certain people are going to find me absolutely crazy for continuing this argument, but it has grabbed my attention and I doubt it will let go anytime soon. I feel pushed to act--to do SOMETHING--but what?

Today in my American Government class we had a discussion about the "No shoes, No shirt, No service" signs and whether they are fair or not. Naturally we all had different opinions...I agreed with some others that if it was a rule that a restaurant or store holds, then it ought to be followed. However, I felt that if it came down to someone being unable to AFFORD such articles, that is it wrong to deny service. I mentioned this in class, and a friend looked at me as if I was stupid and asked something along the lines of "Who in America doesn't have shoes?!" Class continuud, and afterwards we made our way down to lunch. All of a sudden, the topic is brought up again (not by me), and by the time we "agreed to disagree", I was simply floored. Our discussion had turned from being about the "No Service" rule to being about whether or not "all homeless people have shoes".

The argument sounds absolutely ridiculous, and it is, I know. But...I just thought that it was extremely arrogant to believe that just because we live in "America" that every single person is taken care of enough to own one pair of shoes. "Maybe in 3rd worlds, but not in America". Sure, maybe a lot of homeless people do indeed own shoes, but to say that EVERY SINGLE person in big ole America does strikes me as simply arrogant. Someone also said "Why don't they just go buy shoes?"

...that's a perfect "cricket-cricket" moment!

My guess would be that if a homeless person acquired enough money to buy shoes, but they were hungry at the same time, food would take precedence.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm way far away from the truth. I don't know...but I want to find out. I want to see those people and get to know them. I want to learn to love them, and I want to see God in their eyes.