ANSWERS: 21
  • Yes it does and add to that "there but for the Grace of God go I" My grandmother always said that.
  • Yeah, I definitely see where you're coming from, but for me I tend to focus on the more negative side which is about all the bad parents out there that just don't care about their young as much as they care about theirselves. That's definitely one of my flaws, but I still care about the people you're speaking of.
  • Yeah, it makes me feel more sensative towards people like that. Like when I see an old man walking around, people giving him dirty looks, I think of my father. Maybe he has kids that love him like I love my dad. Maybe he was mommy's little man at one point.
  • Yeah. It does. They were loved by someone once. And I know it isn't very far from where I am to where they are. They all had normal lives once and lost them. It could happen to any of us.
  • Yes it sure does.
  • Yea. I tihnk that alot. Someone had to deal with this person for a long time.
  • Yes, I always think about that, especially since I see homeless people on a daily basis..I also wonder what exactly happened to their families and how they ended up that way.
  • Hi, Dbd..what a very kind question..since I am an elderly person, a lot of times younger people will just look through me and not at me..yes, I was once a little girl and inside I'm still about 16..so it is very nice for me to find people of whatever age who see me, Rosemarie, and not just write me off as another old lady. Thanks for that question, my friend..you just brightened my day! :) ((hugs))
  • Yes i do, every day. I work with elderly people, a lot of whom have Alzheimers.. i see them doing things and talking about their life as if they were kids again, and think.. that might be me some day.. or she used to be active and have a young family like i do.. it breaks my heart every day. And yes i see drug addicts and think, 'he is somebodys child', life is very harsh sometimes, but if we thought like this all the time we would be totally miserable, .. i suppose thats life isnt it??
  • I often wonder that. what must have they been like as a child? what was their family like? what happened to them that they are now in such a situation? especially when I see someone who is obviously homeless. do they still have family somewhere? surely, there is someone they once loved or someone that still loves them.
  • I never judge people. I try to pray for them. They got in the situation by some bad stroke of luck & they can't get out. If I see someone panhandling I try to give them food or an unopened bottle of water I have in my car. I was a drug addict for 3 yrs & have been clean for 10. I do not throw stones because I know what it's like. These poeple are not in this situation because they want to be. Everyone needs help & when I help them just a little bit. I help myself too. It hurts my heart to see destitute people with no one that cares for them.
  • After my own life changing event, going through a time where people surely wondered what had happened to me. I have come to understand that everybody has a story. Mine was a single event that led to many problems, Physical, emotional and financial. I am back on my feet now, but whenever I see someone like the question describes, I realize that their journey must have been incredible. One more point, I have a couple of children and as long as I'm alive they will never be alone.
  • Many times although not all to my shame, I try to look at older people regardless of my impatience and remember that they are someone's Mom or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa and that brings me around.
  • That mentally disabled man was my little boy once and HE IS STILL LOVED and taken care of.
  • Yes I have. I come from a family that has a few addicts and jail birds... A homeless mentally ill uncle that actually froze to death on the streets. I think that the things people can feel compassionate over are the things they have actually experienced first hand. I was kind of numb to death until my mother died. Your experiences define you, until you have them, to judge either way solely based on what you see on television or hear in the news, is ignorant and shortsided.
  • What a sad question. this is the saddest question I've seen on AB. *yes I've had a beer* ;-) ...but I have a 1 yr old son...and to think.... RESPECK!
  • yes and you know that once they were young and to them their lives were important and had meaning. When you have your own children, you tend to look around you and see life in a less selfish way, realising that everyone around you is someones son or daughter and why have their lives turned worse than better. It is a strange world.
  • I go one step further. I call it my Zombie Theory, based on the Robert A. Heinlein story, "All You Zombies". I pretend that when I die, instead of being reincarnated in the future, I will instead be reincarnated in the past as the person I am looking at. So this person, whomever they may be, is me in my next life. Or perhaps my previous one. Makes you think.
  • I do. I have a son that I need to look at that way quite often. I go to nursing homes sometimes and little ladies in wheelchairs really remember being 16 year old girls being asked to dance the first time. That girl still lives inside that little lady. You are so insightful. What you suggest is so very true.
  • I've used this quote somewhere else but it hit home to me. When asked what she does with her days, Mother Teresa replied: "I go out into the streets of Calcutta and see, the poor, the sick, the desperate, the elderly, the hopeless and see the face of Jesus in all his distressing forms." God made us all, and we are all His little children. To love and serve the humblest of his creations will elevate your spirit like no other act.
  • I try to think that about anyone I see...it makes everything around me seem more real. I also like to people-watch and think about where they may have come from, what their story is and so on... Makes off-time interesting.

Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC

Answerbag | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy