Contradiction

Today was a day full of contradictions.  Not noticeable contradictions--but contradictions nonetheless.

We went for a walk downtown today.  We didn't really have a specific goal in mind--just to talk to homeless people.  Despite having no real goal, this walk was far from spontaneous.  Wes takes a van full of us downtown Toronto every week to basically just get perspective on the homeless situation and possibly--God forbid in today's society--talk to some of these people living on the streets.

Our walk took us to the hot spot of protest in Toronto at the moment: tent city.  I don't know where exactly we were, but it was some park in the middle of Toronto, and it was covered in tents.  These tents have been set up there for quite a while, and it was actually a legit city.  They had classes teaching various arts, little performances/demonstrations being made, debates, discussions, and even a sort of city hall!

The protest reminded me a lot of what I've been told about the protests in the sixties.  Most of the people there were hippies, and most of them were just there for the sake of protesting--but they weren't entirely sure what. 

The main focus of the protest was the infamous, "occupy" protest that has started spreading throughout North America.  The protest's basic outline is that 1% of the world has 90% of today's wealth, and that's not fair. 

Technically, if you're sitting in a tent whining about it, and the guys with all the money are working, it is fair. 

Not to say, I am ok with the disgusting amounts of greed that make up our world leaders today, but I also know that there are wealthy people who give away most of their money, and I know that the key problem isn't money.  I think that was the main problem I actually had with the protests that I was seeing: the poor people are acting just as greedy as the rich people--they want all the rich people's money. 

From the mentalities I was seeing, I would bet ten thousand dollars that if any one of those individuals was offered a job on wall street, they'd take it.  They'd probably have good intentions, but those would fade quickly. 

I felt--and everyone with me agreed--that the whole protest seemed fruitless, vain, and pointless without God in the equation.  People don't need money, the need equality.  When you factor God in, you realize the equality of humanity, and so everything you own suddenly gains far less value than the thousands of lives surrounding you.  I don't think I do the thought justice when typing it out, but that was the gist of it.

We then decided to leave tent city, and after about thirty minutes of walking we came across four drunk, native homeless guys.  To be honest, they were some of the friendliest people I've met in Toronto.  I had an easier conversation with those guys then I do with most people I know--save for the close ones of course. 

Despite enjoying my conversation with those four men, I couldn't help but leave the encounter feeling like a fake. 

What in the world did I accomplish by talking to them?  Yes, I showed them the kindness and friendliness of Jesus Christ which is so hard to come by these days, but I'm never gonna see them again!  We didn't even really talk about God--one of them told me he was a buddhist, but he started talking about something else before I could ask any more questions. 

Homeless people get enough of christians, "doing their good deed" by coming and talking to them.  Wes said he had a homeless person tell him once, "It's like we're the monkeys in the zoo and they're coming to watch us play".  Going and having one conversation or handing a ten dollar bill to a person you're never gonna see again isn't Christ--it's a Christ attitude to treat others with that kind of kindness--but people like that don't need one good deed here and there...they need a relationship.  A friendship. 

Too many christians say, "Let's go feed the homeless!" which isn't a bad thing, but why are we categorizing them?  We need to treat them like human beings, not homeless people. 

I don't know if my thoughts make any sense, but I really feel like today was contradictory and counter-productive.  Again, I don't think what we did was wrong...just not enough at all.

Catch you tomorrow.