Why do we do it?
#1. On Monday my wife and I had to go out to South Dunedin. We went down one street and we saw a young woman who comes to our drop-in centre. She was stomping along the road with an angry expression on her face scratching her behind. When she comes to our drop-in centre she is just obnoxious, demanding and a "loser/user". She sometimes stinks. She is not the brightest kid on the block, but she does have enough up top to be different. She is aggressive in her contacts, is either angry or stupidly giggly and disruptive. Emotionally, personality wise she is a mess! How did she get like this? After seeing her our conversation went on to list off other people whose whole demeanor and lifestyle is chaos. One man we know is having a protective order served against him for acting stupidly toward a woman who was his girlfriend. He has had court trouble before for inappropriate actions toward a woman. I took him down to the court to sort out the procedure. He (a 58 year old) is basically illiterate so needed my support. He often acts as an arrogant know it all! I went to quite some trouble but it seemed to be something he just expected me to do, I received no "thank you" at all. His family life as a kid, particularly from his dad, was diabolical. We know heaps and heaps of these sorts of dysfunctional lives. What the hell are we doing wrong as a society to produce them? Is it parenting? Is it schooling? Is it family dynamics? Is it just purposeless living by generations of people producing another dysfunctional generation? However it happens here are human lives vandalised, wrecked and poisoned by .... whatever! We ought to be doing better. We ought to be asking ourselves some hard questions about our lifestyle, our society and our values. What ought to be beautiful lives turned to shit. It is deeply sad.
#2. On Tuesday morning I was still groggy when our phone rang. A man told me that a young man who had imbibed in K2 had been uncooperative, aggressive and abusive. He told me that he had called the police and I think he was quite shaken up by the whole event. How can dairy owners in good conscience sell this stuff? I hear of so many lives wrecked by it. Lives are completely stuffed up. Like wise with the use of marijuana. I am sure that a lot of the mental health patients aimlessly wandering the streets, unemployed and bludging from drop-in centres or any other easy touch have had conditions worsened by this stuff.. They may have had troubles but I am sure their issues are made exacerbated by their drug taking. Why do we imbibe in such destructive behaviour?
#3. I was talking to a person who is part of a friendship/support group. There is a split in the group and it seems it is caused by power hungry people wanting to be the centre of attention. It is so sad, what was once a positive, useful friendly group is ruined by the attitudes of a few! I could list off untold Churches, charitable groups and other community groups ruined, limited or distorted by such battles and attitudes. Why do we do it?
Eleven "Hello's"
I ventured away from the Church twice today. I went about a block to talk with the local Volunteer Centre. On the way there I bumped into a man I knew and needed to speak with. We talked doing the necessary business but also enjoying each other's company. Before I got back to the Church I encountered two more people I knew well. After spending three hours talking with people at Space2B I went to visit a firefighter at the hospital about two blocks away. In my walk to the hospital and back I encountered eight people I knew in various capacities. A retired fire fighter, some people I knew through our drop-in centre, the local street sweeper who lunches in our Space2B and even one young woman who greeted me warmly by name as if we were old friends, but I still haven't a clue what part of life she fits in. I could not help but smile as I reflected on the number and warmth of these encounters. I figured that sometimes I must be doing something right.
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