What the world needs more are compassionate people who hold conservative values who have learned the art of walking in another's shoes

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"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd"Matthew 9:36 (ESV)

I remember years ago having lunch with an African American co-worker, someone I went to graduate school with, and making a comment how I wished I wasn't someone who wore their feelings up front. By that, I meant, I wished I could suppress what I was feeling like the world around me. I was surprised by what I heard from this colleague as he simply said: " the world needs more people like you."

In my closet are many shoes. I have shoes for work, shoes for running, shoes for hiking and shoes for special occasions. My wife also has shoes- often several more shoes than I do.  In the garage sits a large sack filled with worn out shoes- shoes that we've stopped wearing, but still new enough to benefit those who have none.  I will offer this disclaimer- there were far more shoes in that sack than mine as I often wore my shoes longer than I should of which they went into the refuse container.

 I realized in a brief second that in every home are shoes for different purposes. In a home of a permanently disabled army veteran sit's specially made shoes to go with the prosthetic leg that allows him to be ambulatory, maybe not as ambulatory as he was before his disability, but enough to enjoy going places instead of sitting alone in his home.

 In my neighborhood, there is a family of a child who relies on a wheelchair. This child also wears shoes with specially made foot orthotics.

 It occurred to me that what the world lacks that I wished we had more of were compassionate people who hold conservative values and understood what it feels like to walk in another person's shoes. We need people to have compassion for all people who have fallen on tough times, As I scour the news sources I see lots of articles about the need to cut the federal debt by eliminating waste- cutting the safety net programs that are a lifeline to those in unfortunate situations.

Sigh.

What if you went to sleep tonight and woke up unable to feel anything below your waist?  You have work to do today, but your sudden bodily weakness prevents from engaging in it. 

You look around the familiar room wondering what is happening to you. You try to move but no matter how much effort you make you remain motionless. You look at the small bell on your bedside table realizing it wasn't there when you went to sleep. You reach for it and at the conclusion of the third ring, you wife comes into the room, followed by someone who identifies himself as your personal care assistant.

 He brings your wheelchair in the room and helps you get into it. You wonder what is happening to your world. It seemed like yesterday you were playing handball at the gym and training for the upcoming Twin City Marathon, but today you lie motionless and dependent on services that were subject to the budget cuts that you once proudly wrote your congressman to cut. 

Suddenly, you see the connection between the services you're now receiving and the life and death differences they are making.

 It appears that there are people who feel whenever they see a person with a disability that they are malingering and simply using it as a crutch so they wouldn't have to work.

 Oh, if only they could change places with someone in those situations. 

What if, for example, your healthy body woke up the next morning unable to move from the waist down, or you wake up fatigued when you normally felt alerted and refreshed after a full night of sleep. 

What if you woke up sad for no reason at all or jittery about the day ahead?  

What if you woke up with a deep sense of unexplained sorrow?  

Sadly, the safety net programs they complain about may be the programs that one day save your life.  
When the doctor gives that devastating diagnosis, or profound grief envelopes you with the traumatic loss of your life, or you get the devastating news that the plant you worked at for 30 years was shutting down, you may be thankful those services area still available.

 Our example for this kind of compassion is as close to us as the pages out of the New Testament where our Savior Jesus teaches us how to walk in another's shoes  He felt compassion for the common folks he saw struggling in life. He felt compassion for the sick and the disabled and for the little children. 

He taught us that God values people before profits and humility before status. 

The next time you see someone who appears to be sad, or walks with an uneven gait or is sitting forlornly in a wheelchair waiting to be pushed somewhere, learn what it feels like to be in their shoes by listening to them share their story.

 You just be surprised by what you hear and like them realize how fragile life really is and one day you could be in their shoes.