Taking the Time to Make a Difference

What do you see in your neighborhood? I went for an early morning walk on a Wednesday morning in early summer, and I tried to remember what I saw, what I heard, and what struck me as unusual. I saw two rabbits, many robins, and two goldfinches in a tree just a few feet away from a bright yellow Volkswagen bug. I saw some neighbors walking, others running, keeping in shape or trying to get into shape. I saw a friend who said “Hello” and some people I didn’t know who said “Good morning.” I saw some people who said nothing. I saw people in cars with tinted windows rolled up, the drivers’ faces set sternly forward toward work or whatever the day’s needs. I saw a magnolia tree very much like the one in my own yard – one that had been damaged by the ice storm a few months ago. New branches were actively filling in where old branches used to be, there as it was at home. I saw some front yards maintained with extraordinary precision, and I saw some lawns with a more natural look. I saw green grass and water sprinklers. I saw patches of grass, dormant and brown. I saw a wheel chair ramp leading up to a front door. It seemed new, but I wondered if I had never noticed it before. What I saw, all in all, was what I had never seen when I zipped past in my car. At walking speed, the world has more detail.

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On the evening before my neighborhood walk, I attended a “Travelling City Hall” meeting in my home town of Evansville. The mayor and all or most of the city’s department heads gathered in one place for an evening session, so people could ask questions and meet with the elected and appointed people who are responsible for what happens in a city — property taxes, future planning and a myriad of other matters and concerns. I heard people who were upset with city decisions – or the lack of decisions, in some cases. I heard people who asked questions related to county government, for which city leaders had no answers. I saw city department heads available on a weekday evening to meet with individual citizens, to talk over matters of individual concerns. And once again, in a manner of speaking, I had to conclude that there is much more to be seen “at walking speed” than there is when one is just driving through town.

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One of the Scriptural passages that has frequently attracted my meditation is the account of the disciples of John the Baptist who came to see Jesus, to see who he is, what he means. There is a big difference between what people expect to see and what they actually see. They – and we, all of us – often are unwilling to put aside our pre-conceived notions. It is hard to be objective – to put aside the limitations of what we expect to see, or what we intend to see, and to open our eyes to reality.

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Take the time to walk through your neighborhood – on foot down the streets, or over the fence to the next farmstead, or through the political structure of your city or town. Or maybe even, you might want to take a stroll through the parish or congregation where you worship, to see what a first-time observer would see, to discover what one would see who is not accustomed to driving by with un-seeing familiarity. The Christian Family Movement uses the system promoted by Cardinal Joseph Cardijn – to “see, judge and act.” Or, as it is often stated, observe the world around you, judge what you see in the light of Gospel teaching, and act to make things better. If you want to make a difference, take the time to pray to Jesus, along with the blind man, for the grace to see the world not through disease or distortion, but clearly, honestly, objectively: Lord, please let me see.

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