Saturday, December 17, 2011

Disjointed thoughts

My parents have two dogs, a big one and a little one. They sleep in my parent's room, in a little crate and a big crate. Guess where Noah wants to sleep? yes. He thinks the big dog is a pillow and the little dog is his minion. Noah has also learned how to pray a little (motivated by a pressing need to pray for the dogs) and how to do some basic gardening.

When we were getting rid of everything, the tough thing was that you can't get rid of everything all at once, if you're trying to find good homes. So for a couple of months, we were gradually reduced to a mattress and pillows. In Cape Town, the challenge is that, if you want to do things deliberately and gently, that also takes time and all we have is a fridge, a washer and a stove. All in all, it seems like it will be about 1 year of transition.

If we leave my parent's house and get on the train or go closer to the city, we're likely to encounter beggars or blind people singing for money - at least a few times a day. Whereas in Boston I felt like at least some supports existed, in Cape Town I'm not sure (perhaps there are supports). I have conflicting thoughts: I think there's something freeing about just giving to everyone who asks you for help. I think it's fairly Biblical (probably as much for the giver, who then doesn't have to judge each person or face an agonizing choice again and again). But I'm suspicious and cynical much of the time, and logic and research tells me that there are other, better ways to give to combat inequality. So I'm inconsistent. Your thoughts are welcome.

1 comment:

emily said...

I try to always carry extra bananas :)