Elements of real life.
Walking back from buying a coffee at the closest barrista stand you decide to walk under the willow trees by the ornamental fountain and soak in a little city nature. There are people out and about on this Saturday morning. One man, a bike rider, has his t-shirt off and is sitting in the lotus position meditating on the concrete brim of a big flowing fountain. He is balancing his elements. One man is walking listening to his iPod mumbling the lyrics of a song referring to the challenge of controlling internal elements. There is a woman casually walking around taking pictures and framing shots of flowers and plants and the river close by. As you walk you notice a man on the ground in front another man sitting on a bench. Homeless? Perhaps.
Standing looking at water shooting from the ground into the air and falling back into a surrounding pool you suddenly feel a person standing to your left. Who is he and why are you being approached? He speaks broken english with an almost Thai or Philippine accent. A quick scan of his person shows that he has a seemingly clean unwrinkled dress shirt and pants with a baseball hat that says, "Polo".
"The man...he was drunk and they beat his legs and he not moving. They beat him bad cause he drunk and he needs a hospital or the police....do you have a cell phone? He's over there." He points to where he was sitting on the bench. If you say yes you have a cell phone you could be robbed. Why doesn't this guy go over to the hotel across the street or one of the nearby restaurants and have them call the police? Is this a setup, you ask yourself. You can just disregard him and walk away now and all he'll be is a forgotten rambling street person. But what if the man does need help.
Will you be telling this story to someone later ending with, "I guess I deserved to be robbed for getting myself involved in the first place."
Screw it.
You're supposed to have taken oaths to better yourself and others in this incarnation, but that doesn't mean you're a chump.
Game face on. All senses alert you walk as the man leads you over to the enclosed area where the unconscious guy is lying in the sun on the ground. "He not moving" your guide/con artist/concerned human says. He's not moving, but his forearms are vertically frozen while the rest of him is supine. He's got denim pants which are pulled up and his calves are visible.
There is no blood anywhere. Is this a setup? Is the man behind you going to grab you while the man on the ground jumps at you and sweeps your legs for them to rob you? There's no blood.
He looks drunk and he's breathing. The slight opening of his eyes almost reveal what may be brown eyeballs glazed over. The sound of feet walking up behind you. Two men are approaching and one says,"We should move him off the ground or the police will be all over us." Reinforcements for taking you out? Now one attacker/ concerned citizen has grown into three. Out numbered. Take stock of pockets and contents. All there.
"Let's pick him up and get him on a bench where he can sleep without drawing a lot of attention."
"Okay", you say and everyone gets in position to lift this guy up. "One, two, three..."
The sleeping man moans in pain or confusion as he is set up on the bench.
Check pocket contents again. Still there.
"There" the one talking guy says,"Now he can rest without the cops coming over here and harassing all of us."
You pick up your paper coffee cup from the ground and start to step away. "Thanks for your help" the talker says. "No problem" you say and all parties wander in their own directions.
What a messed up world that you can't help people anymore with an open concern. You never know who is seriously in need of assistance and who is running a scam. Two men are fighting. Which one is the attacker and which one is the attacked? Is it self defense or robbery? No telling, so you do nothing.
All you can do is try see all elements as they are and judge each situation with care and attention. Crazy.
Standing looking at water shooting from the ground into the air and falling back into a surrounding pool you suddenly feel a person standing to your left. Who is he and why are you being approached? He speaks broken english with an almost Thai or Philippine accent. A quick scan of his person shows that he has a seemingly clean unwrinkled dress shirt and pants with a baseball hat that says, "Polo".
"The man...he was drunk and they beat his legs and he not moving. They beat him bad cause he drunk and he needs a hospital or the police....do you have a cell phone? He's over there." He points to where he was sitting on the bench. If you say yes you have a cell phone you could be robbed. Why doesn't this guy go over to the hotel across the street or one of the nearby restaurants and have them call the police? Is this a setup, you ask yourself. You can just disregard him and walk away now and all he'll be is a forgotten rambling street person. But what if the man does need help.
Will you be telling this story to someone later ending with, "I guess I deserved to be robbed for getting myself involved in the first place."
Screw it.
You're supposed to have taken oaths to better yourself and others in this incarnation, but that doesn't mean you're a chump.
Game face on. All senses alert you walk as the man leads you over to the enclosed area where the unconscious guy is lying in the sun on the ground. "He not moving" your guide/con artist/concerned human says. He's not moving, but his forearms are vertically frozen while the rest of him is supine. He's got denim pants which are pulled up and his calves are visible.
There is no blood anywhere. Is this a setup? Is the man behind you going to grab you while the man on the ground jumps at you and sweeps your legs for them to rob you? There's no blood.
He looks drunk and he's breathing. The slight opening of his eyes almost reveal what may be brown eyeballs glazed over. The sound of feet walking up behind you. Two men are approaching and one says,"We should move him off the ground or the police will be all over us." Reinforcements for taking you out? Now one attacker/ concerned citizen has grown into three. Out numbered. Take stock of pockets and contents. All there.
"Let's pick him up and get him on a bench where he can sleep without drawing a lot of attention."
"Okay", you say and everyone gets in position to lift this guy up. "One, two, three..."
The sleeping man moans in pain or confusion as he is set up on the bench.
Check pocket contents again. Still there.
"There" the one talking guy says,"Now he can rest without the cops coming over here and harassing all of us."
You pick up your paper coffee cup from the ground and start to step away. "Thanks for your help" the talker says. "No problem" you say and all parties wander in their own directions.
What a messed up world that you can't help people anymore with an open concern. You never know who is seriously in need of assistance and who is running a scam. Two men are fighting. Which one is the attacker and which one is the attacked? Is it self defense or robbery? No telling, so you do nothing.
All you can do is try see all elements as they are and judge each situation with care and attention. Crazy.
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