Each one of us walks through the world blindly in his own way. During this holiday season, it merits to mention a statement made in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” The ghost of Christmas past tells Scrooge to “open your eyes to the world.” The other ghosts implore Scrooge to see as well.
This act of opening our eyes is tricky. It’s written that we cannot see what we are not ready to see. You can talk to someone until you are “blue in the face” but he will not see what you are telling him if he is not intellectually ready for it. It is a process, an evolution of spirit that incites the heart to understand and the lessons learned fall hard on us.
I once took my students to Joseph’s Home, a care facility that helps the homeless heal after major surgeries and helps them transition back into society. There was a patient there who took a liking to me and shared his story with me, which he in turn shared with my students.
He told me that he grew up in poverty and dropped out of school at an early age. He came from a broken family and was one of twelve kids. His lack of attention from his mother made him angry. He felt lost in the act of surviving. He learned early on that he had to fend for himself. He was completely focused on the act of surviving, so much so that he was blind to the world and the needs of others.
His ways were bound to catch up with him. He told me how he robbed a store and the police tried to chase him down. He ended up being holed up in a boxcar of a stopped train and shot at them repeatedly until they overwhelmed him with force and apprehended him. He did serious time and the survival skills he learned in the world were reinforced in prison.
He was finally released from prison and an old man. No one would hire him because of his record and due to some physical ailments that creeped up in old age, he was losing his fight in the world. A nun heard his story at a free clinic and managed to help him get treatment for cancer. When he was laid up, the nun would visit with him and was there for him consistently attending to his broken spirit. He saw something in her he hadn’t seen in anyone else. He saw a person who cared.
He said, the realization of love hit him like “a ton of bricks.” He teared up as he told my students how he’d awaken to the power of love. People nursed his wounds. They got him food and spent time with him. He said he realized that not all people were bad, out to get him. He told us, in so many words, you get so busy surviving that you lose sight of your own humanity.
I thought about blindness and how revelations open our eyes in unforeseeable ways. We take for granted our sight. We take for granted the presence of others who carry us and care for us, who want to be there to help us find our way.
I was talking to a colleague and sharing how honored I am to work with colleagues who lose sleep over their inability to help a student. I’ve talked with teachers who have told me, “That kid has no idea how much I care. I couldn’t impress upon him to open his eyes and see what he was doing and the harm he was causing himself.” That child is still evolving, still blind to a world that is open to him. He can’t necessarily see himself living to a ripe old age or enjoying the fruits of grace open to him. Some can and find their way out.
Last week a colleague had his car broken into in our parking lot. He’s one of the most dedicated men I know and giving his heart and soul to helping the most vulnerable among us. Teachers who take it personally burn out. My friend was sad but took it in stride. It was an inconvenience for him, but his dedication is set in stone and is not intimidated and has his eyes clearly set on his mission for his students. He rose above it.
In another scenario, I heard that two people stole a car, put cinder blocks on the gas to watch it break through the entrance to the food bank. Here’s an organization doing its part to help people in need and these individuals’ only concern was the destruction of its property for their own amusement.
“Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear will see and hear.” The older I get the more I learn that the lesson presents itself for us to break out of our lack of awareness. Only when we reclaim our inner vision for life will we practice what we preach in life.
This Christmas season is a season of light that guides the way. Those who have eyes will utilize the light to peer into the depths of goodness. The joy and spirit of the season and inner glimpses of enlightened self interest inherent in Advent give rise to opening the eyes of the blind to see.
The “reclamation” of Scrooge’s inherent goodness and redirection by opening his eyes to his indiscretions is the central theme in “A Christmas Carol.” It’s a story for the ages that inspires young and old.
Here’s to seeing what’s laid before us with clarity of purpose and goodness in grace as God has presented for all to see – each in his good time.
spirit beat 