A City View - The Invisible People (Part Deux)

A City View - The Invisible People (Part Deux)

Our greatest strength as a human race is our ability to acknowledge our differences, our greatest weakness is our failure to embrace them. —Judith Henderson

WHEN WE FIRST moved into our apartment, we noticed that our young neighbors would get on the elevator with their heads down, texting on their phones. They never looked up; I swear, I thought I was invisible! They’d enter the downstairs gym in a dazed state of sleep deprivation, connected to their iPods as if they were permanent appendages. Even when I was on the treadmill, I was invisible. I watched them come and go through the lobby, always talking on the phone—they were verbally connected to one another, but not to me. Does this generation know what it means to look into a stranger’s eyes, to connect with that person as a fellow human being? Or must they have my mobile phone number in order for me to be a part of their world?

I was greatly amused and surprised to recognize that it was Dallas’s homeless citizens, more than the young, urban professionals I saw daily, who made me feel alive during my first months of living in the city. It was the homeless folks who energized me. It was those without a home who made me feel like a welcome addition to this great city. And it was those who make their beds on concrete sidewalks who awakened me to the concept of invisibility and the importance of connecting with our eyes . . . if only for a moment.

So I made it my mission to see my high-rise neighbors and for them to see me. They were probably confused and amused by my extroverted greetings in the halls, in the parking garage, in the elevator—and I’m sure I seemed absolutely obnoxious at 6:30 a.m. in the gym. But after several weeks, I saw a change. Giving them the “twinkle eye,” I made it a point to reach out and welcome them to my world. And, yes, I even made a couple of friends (who probably think I’m a nut job).

God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

I wanted to be sure my neighbors knew that they were not invisible to me, so I extended to them the same welcoming spirit my homeless friends extended to me. I welcome them to my world. We are, together, part of the human race.