I was in a hurry rushing back to my room before loading the truck to teach english school. I was already running late and everyone was waiting. As I walked by part of the house I heard "Indy!", a name I had started to lovingly respond to. I recognized the voice. I turned and saw one of my host brothers standing with a rock used as chalk in his hand. At the turn of my head he proudly pointed to a drawing on the side of the house. He had used that chalk rock to draw a picture of a person. Sprouts of hair out the top of the head, a big body, legs, one arm, and finished with a smile. I nodded acknowledging the drawing but not much more. I was in a hurry, after all.
Plus, why did this child draw on the side of the house? Surely he would get in trouble. Had I drawn a Picture on the side of my house growing up I would have gotten in some serious trouble. What was he thinking?
The day passed and the next morning came. Over our breakfast of Haitian spaghetti (which I have started to appreciate...) my teammate said "did you see the picture drawn of you on the side of the house?" "No." I lied. "The kids pointed to it and said 'Lindsey' so I figured it was of you."
Had I been too busy to notice the sentiment? Was I too caught up in what I thought was right and wrong to thank him for the thought? And it hit me. Don't we all do this all the time except on a much larger scale? We come into contact with "the least of these" and we see them as a project, something that needs fixed. So we rush past them as a person and prepare an agenda as to how to fix their ailments. We don't take time to see them as people because we are rushing past them in search of doing our next good deed. Or perhaps we do see them. Perhaps we see their picture drawn on the house and quickly shut them out thinking "that's not how we would do things back home!" We don't give them a second thought because we are too preoccupied placing our own thoughts and culture in a place of superiority.
I had a wake up call that morning. Too often I see "work" instead of people. I see the differences instead of likeness. I place my own prejudices in the foresight and others on a distant horizon. I want to stop and see the picture in front of me. I want to appreciate the sprouts of hair, the body, the arms and legs. I want to take in all things that make a person, a person whether in aligns with my way of doing things or not.
