Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Humanity

Hey Everyone, Lyndsey again! The other night we went out on a run with Sarah DiGiaimo as the leader. It was a small group, and we didn’t see a lot of people out. We ended up leaving bags in different areas that we hoped they would be found.
I have a story that happened to me the other day that I wanted to share. I was walking through Harvard Square, in my own world, when I looked up and saw a man outside of CVS standing with a change cup. As I watched he turned into the flow of foot traffic, and got plowed into by another man who was not paying any attention and walking too fast for his own good. He knocked the man completely on the ground and then stopped. I thought that he was going to apologize and help him back up, but sadly, that was not the case. Instead this man proceeded to scream at the one on the ground about how he needed to get out of the way, and that what had just happened was entirely his fault, along with a stream of obscenities and terrible names. After he felt that his job of berating this man was done he stormed off, without lifting a finger to help him up. Once I got to him, I offered a hand and helped him off the ground. I apologized for what had just happened to him and then, as if by a knee jerk reaction, apologized for not having anything to give him. He turned to me, looked me straight in the eye and said, “No, you acknowledged me, and that’s enough.”
I almost feel no need to try and end this with some moral or lesson that people can take away from this incident. That man’s statement to me is just about as deep and as straight forward as it could possibly be. He is human, as we all are. If we don’t help each other out, than who will?

Saturday, April 18, 2009

White Hall Sandwich Run

Leader of the night: Lyndsey Carpenter

Last night we did a sandwich run with some residents of White Hall. There were only a few people out, but we left sandwiches in different places around Harvard Square. As we were finishing our loop, we noticed that one of the bags we had left had been taken. We can only hope that it was enjoyed. At the debrief we talked about how this was some of the participants first run. Some said that they had started the night thinking that they wouldn’t be nervous, but in the end they were. We talked about how that is a normal feeling and that it was good that they knew that they could step back and just hold the bags. Because in the end, every little bit helps.