Ordinary's Just Not Good Enough Today
As our CNG passed by the beggar girl she seen our foreign faces and ran after the vehicle until we stopped at the light. She poked her face in our space "Please give alms, Allah will bless you." I turned to look at her, winced inwardly and looked away. The 12 year old had a huge tumor where her lip should be. It had pushed her teeth all crooked and protruded from her face making it almost impossible to look at her, because my eyes wanted to slide off away from the disfigurement.
As my eyes slipped off Shuli's face, Ali piped up beside me. "What's your name?" "Shuli, please give me some money, to buy some rice" "Oh!" said Ali, "My friend's name is Shuli!" "Really?" Shuli's eyes light up. "Yes, be careful" we urge as the traffic started moving.
Our CNG moved up to the front of the line, but the light turned red before we could go. Shuli caught up with our CNG and poked her face in again. This time my eyes could find hers. "Shuli, do you have brother's and sisters?" "Yes! We are three, I am the middle one." "How old are you?" We chatted for a few minutes before the light changed and we moved on, off to a better neighborhood to visit Carolyn who was sick.
By the time we got to Carolyn's both Ali and I were in tears. Shuli was so happy when we started talking to her. Her eyes were shining and her disfigured mouth turned up into a smile. It hurts to know that a girl like that has no future in Bangladesh. She will forever be a beggar. Those who organize the beggars keep her hoping to gain sympathy for her disfigurement. She will never get married because of her misshapen face.
Her situation isn't fair. But neither is it fair that we, who are relatively rich and powerful, can do absolutely nothing to help her. The situations of beggars doesn't usually get to me so badly. I blame Ali, who allows, even demands, verbally processing this stuff, so that I internalize and attempt to make sense of these difficult issues that otherwise slide off my happy veneer, regulated to office hours.
So often I am jealous of John and Peter who heal the crippled beggar in Acts 3.
Ali puts it differently. Imagine how crowded Jesus was. Moved by sympathy He was healing those crippled people, and they just kept coming. There were always more people who needed healing. Crowding Jesus.
I think of how overwhelmed I am with people who perceive me as rich and powerful, even though I can't do anything. How the people must have overwhelmed and crowded Someone who was actually healing them.
As my eyes slipped off Shuli's face, Ali piped up beside me. "What's your name?" "Shuli, please give me some money, to buy some rice" "Oh!" said Ali, "My friend's name is Shuli!" "Really?" Shuli's eyes light up. "Yes, be careful" we urge as the traffic started moving.
Our CNG moved up to the front of the line, but the light turned red before we could go. Shuli caught up with our CNG and poked her face in again. This time my eyes could find hers. "Shuli, do you have brother's and sisters?" "Yes! We are three, I am the middle one." "How old are you?" We chatted for a few minutes before the light changed and we moved on, off to a better neighborhood to visit Carolyn who was sick.
By the time we got to Carolyn's both Ali and I were in tears. Shuli was so happy when we started talking to her. Her eyes were shining and her disfigured mouth turned up into a smile. It hurts to know that a girl like that has no future in Bangladesh. She will forever be a beggar. Those who organize the beggars keep her hoping to gain sympathy for her disfigurement. She will never get married because of her misshapen face.
Her situation isn't fair. But neither is it fair that we, who are relatively rich and powerful, can do absolutely nothing to help her. The situations of beggars doesn't usually get to me so badly. I blame Ali, who allows, even demands, verbally processing this stuff, so that I internalize and attempt to make sense of these difficult issues that otherwise slide off my happy veneer, regulated to office hours.
So often I am jealous of John and Peter who heal the crippled beggar in Acts 3.
Ali puts it differently. Imagine how crowded Jesus was. Moved by sympathy He was healing those crippled people, and they just kept coming. There were always more people who needed healing. Crowding Jesus.
I think of how overwhelmed I am with people who perceive me as rich and powerful, even though I can't do anything. How the people must have overwhelmed and crowded Someone who was actually healing them.
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