9th
of April, 2013.
Sydney.
It
is raining. An icy, warm kind of rain that doesn't pour, doesn't
fall, just mists and sweats. The crowded CBD is flooded with damp
fringes plastered to the foreheads of those who own them, Louis
Vuitton handbags dripping with strange perspiration, steamy business
shirts underneath oppressive, smartly cut suit jackets, puffed, red
faces of those in excessive hurry, dampened Chanel skirts, sodden
Prada shoes, clammy fingers in the pockets of moistened Burberry
coats.
Same
street. A wet face looks at the ground holding a sign that says she
needs help. Needs money. Needs a meal.
She
has been there for an hour already, and doesn't even have a dollar.
The
haughty crowd of self-absorbed humanity continues to hurry by, a
meaningless blur of carelessness for the things that really matter.
How can they not see what matters? I take the disinterest as a
challenge. I will give money at least, I think
to myself. I look in my purse. Five cents. Five ridiculous, mocking
cents. I close it again. I don't want to look at my inability to
help. Five cents cannot help, can it?
It
could have. It would have, I'm certain. Yet, I became like the rest
of the self-absorbed crowd. I didn't give it.
Ten
minutes later we enter a lane. Birdcage Lane, it is called. Angel Place.
Suspended from wires crossing over me are hung many, many bird cages
of all shapes and appearances. All are different. All are different,
just like we humans are all different from each other. A cage for
each of us. Do you know what this place is?
A
metaphor.
I
understand. The woman on the street is caged in her poverty. And I?
I
am caged in my comfort.
Now
I have a mission.
To find the key.
To find the key.
3 comments:
Oh my gosh, why are you so encouraging and amazing?
I desperately want to talk to you right now!! xo
To find the key. Simple, yet so profoundly challenging to each and every one of us. Beautiful message Ginny! Keep it up.
So thought-provoking and encouraging! Imogen, you are such a wonderful writer! :)
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