Last week, I hung out with friends in downtown Santa Cruz.  I was thoroughly impressed by one of my friends who attends UCSC.  Despite, presumably, frequenting the area and thus having a higher exposure to homeless people than me, he was not desensitized.  Actually, this friend of mine was very clearly troubled when he was asked for cigarettes, change, or food and had to decline.  He’s the slickdeals-ing kind of guy, so took home some leftovers.  But when I man asked him for his food, my friend gave it up–saying that his only problem was that he should have given it to a person he thought appeared to need it more.  It was a very surprising and pleasant display of humanity (though my friend experienced distraught feelings–I took it that he felt distraught because he sympathized greatly).  The reflection of kindness made me happy.  He’s a good person.  I like my friend.

It also got me thinking about my own reaction towards homeless people.  And how I most frequently ignore homeless people–and how this treatment different from (read: worse than) the treatment I would give to most other strangers.  With the reminder of my friend’s humanity, hopefully I can work towards increasing my own capacity for respect.