It's Not My Problem

So I was just walking in downtown Bryan to get our office mail. I do this primarily because I need the change of scenery from what my regular four walls of dreariness provide. But, it has been beautiful the last few days, and the temps aren't too bad right now. It is a bit windy for this part of Texas, though.

So I'm walking, feeling the wind and tiny drops of rain that evaporate as soon as they hit me when I notice something fluttering in the gusts. Apparently, a bunch of circulars for Sears were lost in the street and were being scattered by the overly gusty wind. Some were in the street, others right in my path. I stepped over them and kept walking. "It's not my problem," I thought.

I'd walked a few more steps when I felt as though someone inside me was saying, "Then whose problem is it, if not yours?" It's one of those slow motion movie moments where I'm still moving, but this dialogue is going by in my head at lightning speed. I thought of the city workers, who would pick it up, but hey wouldn't be down there to do something so small until the papers were long gone. My fellow citizens could do it, but they weren't right then. Store owners also might be motivated to keep their storefronts neat, but the rate these things were blowing they didn't sit long enough in one place to be a real nuisance. As this lightning round ended, I realized that no one else would deal with this problem- but I saw it as a problem, and there was nothing preventing me from picking up at least the stuff on the sidewalk. I was not darting in front of traffic, however.

So every paper that crossed my path, I picked up and found a trash can for. And I began to think about how often we say, "It's not my problem." I'm not talking about litter and environmental stuff here, though that is part of this. No, I mean how often do we see someone in need and think that we don't have to intervene? I know there have often been times when I have seen a friend or co-worker have to do something unpleasant, and my thought has been, "I'm glad it is them and not me." How often do we see someone clearly struggle with big questions, life and eternity altering questions, and we do everything we can to avoid making eye contact lest they engage with us. How often have you watched your spouse do the dishes or the laundry and quietly slumped down on the couch or pretended not to hear their call for help? No one? Just me?

What is wrong with us a people, and as a society, is that we have an "It's not my problem," mentality. We have a government welfare system because somewhere along the way people and institutions that used to take care of people stopped. Whether it was because they couldn't (hello, Great Depression) or because they wouldn't doesn't matter. When prosperity returned, generosity didn't. You may protest, "But Chad, I'm in need, too. I live paycheck to paycheck, how can I help when I have nothing left to give?" You know what, I'm there, too. But why does generosity HAVE to materialistic? Give your time, your attention, your physical aid. I would love to give more money to my church, to missionaries I know, local aid groups, to things like Haiti relief, but I don't have money. What I do have is the ability to pray, to spend a Saturday morning at a food pantry, or simply listen when a friend has a crappy day/week/month.

The fact is, too many times we step over a broken, hurting person on our way somewhere, because "It's not our problem." Let the government, the mission, the chur-(Wait, I'm the church), the philanthropists deal with them. We are not Good Samaritans, but priests and Levites too busy or unconcerned to stop and help the bleeding man. We are holy, and do not want to be defiled. We are righteous, and do not want to be seen with sinners.

I picked up those papers because they became my problem. What changed was not the circumstance, or the amount of papers, or the reward for picking them up. What changed was my perspective. Something bothered me, and I set about making it right. I didn't ask someone else to do it for me, I didn't wait for the government to fix it, and I didn't petition a church committee to see it done. I saw a need and addressed it.

What is "Not your problem?" It is time to make it your problem, and do something about it.