TOUCHING HEARTS

Imagine you are walking at your local town street on a Saturday winter afternoon to meet up with a dear friend. It is not as busy and buzzing with cars and taxis as it is during weekdays. The sun is fairly warm and you're just enjoying in the cool breeze. And as you continue on with you stride you then see at the traffic lights a beggar lady with a child. She has just arrived to start her "shift", and is fixing her worn-out blanket. She then sits down and as you are approaching she does something remarkably touching; she kisses her baby in the forehead and you see her and the baby smiling.

You look around and no one else witnessing this amazing moment. As you continue walking approaching the traffic intersection, few cars drive by the traffic lights and as usual no one pays attention because, well, that's not what they want to see and plus she isn't the only beggar in town. As you reach the traffic lights and before you cross over you then turn to your left and acknowledge the souls in front of you, and instead of just turning away you then "courageously" ask her, "How are you?" She replies as everyone typical does, "I am fine." Then you unhesitatingly ask, "How much do you usually make a day sitting here?" Shocked at the fact that you actually are taking notice of her, she then says, "I do around 35 and 40 bucks (rands)." Thirty five to forty, and that's when it’s really "good"?

So the light changes but you don't cross instead you do something as if without even thinking, you take out your wallet and you give her hundred bucks (rands) just like that. She's in disbelief and probably thinks "Hundred bucks!!? WTF!!" And then you smile, and she thinks you're a saint and says things like "if you have a job for me even if it’s cleaning please find me one. I am always here." But you are just a simple student and that moment was a moment where two souls met to make an announcement of who they each are. One is aware of this (you) the other is not (her). Oh and the child is just gazing at you as if you have some halo around you head.

Now here's a question, as she told you how much she makes a day just sitting and begging, and after you gave her the little money you had  what do you suppose she would do when you leave? Would she a)pack up and go because she has made roughly 2 to 3 times more than she makes a day if not a week. Or she would still sit there and beg even if she has gotten that little from you?

You've guessed it, she packed up and left! Just kidding. As you may have guessed, she stayed there and continued to beg. Was the generosity in vain? Did it not change anything? Why didn't she just pack and leave after that? Well the generosity wasn't in vain. She stayed there and continued doing her begging because she practiced that behavioural patterning that its now a habit that is firmly embedded in her consciousness. I didn't do that to absolve a condition she was in. I only did that because I wanted to do it. It was an announcement of who or what I am.  I wasn't there to be her saviour but rather, if possible, a reminder to her and me that you aren't alone, and 'that goodness is what is true for you and you're worth more than just 35 or even hundred bucks.' Chances are that I won't see her again, but I answered the call of my soul and that's all that was for.

The truth is that, the action only dealt with the leaves of the tree instead of the roots. It focused on effect rather than the cause, the projection rather than the projector. Yet how often do we insist on dealing with major issues that face the world such as poverty and injustice and famine in the same manner? Focusing on eradicating the effect rather than going to the roots. Many of our governments, churches and even NGOs do this. The intention is good, but the actions methods do yield any significant change. They try in alleviating the “bad things” they do not want to see by taking actions that are motivated by what they do not want to see. What you resist persists, and naturally this does nothing to remove that very thing, for it touches on just trimming the leaves off the branches instead of removing rotten roots and poisonous water supply. Nothing can change until you change the hearts of man.

I wasn’t there to try and help a “powerless” soul from the "injustices" of life; for each soul is the creator and attractor of its circumstances and it is not my job to do or undo whatever they have attracted thus far. I wasnt placed there to absolve a seemingly “sad” reality but rather to give her what she was asking for as a result of her being there in the first place - money, and  be a possible reminder of hope and power. I didn’t come to be the saviour of a "lost soul", because no soul is lost or powerless or a victim, although that soul might believe itself to be through its forgetfulness of its power. This is a hard truth to live by for most people because they believe that people are here to be saved from the evil of mankind. And I do admit that it is hard to comprehend when you observe events in areas such as Darfur, Syria and other war tone areas. But all of these events and circumstances are announcement of what each soul it says it is. The evil and the injustice and the poverty that many are exposed to, is because of our choosing as global community. We choose to act powerless and play small with changing the world and our hearts and allow circumstances to be as they are up until we can no longer stand the heartlessness of ourselves and then scream at the heavens as to why God doesn’t do something about what we have collectively created.

As I have said in one of my articles that each of us has the power to bring relief but more importanly our job is to bring empowerment. We are not here to salvage people from the unfair events of life because each of us are exposed to the same matrix, we are to render assistance where possible in order to remind each other of the true power in each of us to create the kind of world we want to live in. We can change the matrix! This power is in each of us, from the popper to the pope, the prostitute to the priest, the saint to the sinner, each of us has the power to make this world and better place and a true announcement of who we really are. And once we begin taking humanitarian efforts with such awareness in mind (although not easy) that is when true and lasting change will come, for we will have gone to the root cause of things rather than continuing to cut off the branches of a poisonous tree from poisoned waters (thoughts).

It does begin with us. From simply making that effort to donating whatever little we have not because we feel pity but we see the truth of their power in their eyes to forming new legislation that are a better announcement of who we are as a collective society. If the water is poisonous and the roots are rotten the tree can never bare good fruits.
The question now is and will always be, are you going answer your souls call to expression of love and relief, not because something is bad but because something good is within you? Or you going to continue delaying and waiting on the world to change before you do?

Nothing can change until we change the hearts of man. You are the man.