Death of Humanity

I've been struck, lately, by how living in today's modern urban cities can remove all vestiges of humanity from a person. It's a slippery slope; once you start turning a blind eye to the beggars and the unwanted it's not hard to start avoiding eye contact and then immediately raise your open hand and make the universal stop signal when people start to veer towards your path.  Regardless of the valid arguments one could make regarding how this attitude could promote safety (after all, people who prey on other people look for tell-tale signs that someone could be taken) it still remains antithetical to our Christian ideals. How can I honestly turn away from someone who, visibly distressed (and probably deranged), asks if I live in Chicago and then, when I say 'Sorry, buddy', goes off on a rant about not finding his way. How can I honestly say 'No' to the woman who is asking for change with her year-old child sleeping in her lap? How can I? It's easy -- that's the problem. As soon as you think of these persons as anything but that -- people -- it's all downhill. And, of course, there is absolutely no way to correlate this behavior with trying to bring about the Kingdom of God. I can't wait to get out of this city.