I See You

The sun pinned high in the clear, cloudless blue sky, casting a warm glow over Southern California. A proud looking golden retriever trotted joyfully beside its owner, their shared adventures a testament to freedom and companionship. Every afternoon, they wandered through the familiar streets, the gentle breeze carried the air of life’s simple pleasures. Yet today, a heavier truth lingered in the air.

An old, frail woman emerged from an alley way, her figure hunched under the weight of a large mattress. It had been discarded, a forgotten piece of someone else’s life, now somehow transformed into her most prized possession. This woman, her clothes tattered and hair unkept, struggled to navigate her shopping cart, once the mattress was atop of it. Each step the cart was pushed with the mattress seemed to echo her silent fight against a world that had turned its back on her.

As the golden retriever and its owner enjoyed their mid-day walk, they crossed paths with the woman several times, each encounter a moment of stark contrast between their world and lives, evoking empathy in the man. The vibrant life of their community, stood as stark against her lone-struggle. The well manicured homes and laws, the faint laughter of children, and the dog parents engaged in mid-afternoon fun with their pups. The peoples' happiness presented a world of comfortable security, while the woman lived outside its margins. Finally, the man and his dog arrived at a wide-open field, that was bordered with a high iron fence, a barrier that separated the beautiful homes and green lawns, from the dusty brown trails and high riverbed brush with its hidden homeless encampment, where the woman called home. As the curious golden sniffed around, the man watched the woman pull the mattress through a broken section of chain link fence. Working extremely hard for her prize.

In that moment, a realization washed over him. It was not just a mattress that the woman fought to reclaim; it was a semblance of comfort in a life filled with hardship. She called out in struggle, her voice reaching beyond the fence, as if she believed she was talking to someone on its other side. But no one was there; she was talking to the air, a reminder of her solitude, and struggle for survival in a stripped down world. He saw the determination etched on her face. Years of hardship had carved lines of resilience into her skin, yet there was a fragility about her that was impossible to ignore. The mattress, scavenged from the refuse of others, became a symbol of survival. To some, it was waste; to her, it was a treasure.

"I see you" He thought to himself, as he then tugged on the Golden's leash, who's nose was now firmly buried on an interesting spot of the grass. "Come on, let's go boy" the man began to lead his dog away. But then a voice pierced through the silence, revealing a deeper truth. The woman yelled out “No, you don’t!”, “You may see me before you, but you do not see me”. With each word, she laid bare the invisible barriers that kept her isolated. A Society that looks away, concerned only with how to remove her from their view, rather than understanding the life and things that had brought her to this point. People accuse each of who's more guilty of her creation, and who's most responsible to fix her. However, rarely do the people consider the roots of her existence. People lament the pounds of dollars needed to address her situation, yet turn a blind eye to the small ounces of investment that could have prevented or treat her plight.

As the golden retriever wagged its tail, oblivious to the weight the woman's words had on the man's mind, and the critical thoughts that ensued. The man calls out "Let's go home, take us home boy" the dog excited by the man's request, they now committed themselves on returning home from their afternoon walk; just then the man here's the woman call out once more, “Either help me or kill me; otherwise, just let me be. Because you really don’t care about what you see.” Her voice was steady now, a fierce declaration of the truth of her existence. And just how did the man come to hear this woman, and what she had to say; was it a lucid daydream, or could the woman feel his thoughts and interested stares.

In that moment, the sun seemed even brighter, illuminating the divide between two worlds. One filled with comfort and care, the other shadowed by struggle and neglect. The path forward was clear. It required not just seeing but truly understanding, not just sympathy but action. The challenge lay not in the mere acknowledgment of her existence but in the willingness to bridge the gap that separated them, to have empathy for the situations that caused her, and how those situations are caused by society; and what can be done to mitigate negative responses.

As the golden retriever and the man walked their path home, the woman faded into the background; but just as her words, thoughts of her lingered on. Forging a call to compassion, urging the world to recognize that every life has value, and every struggle deserves to be seen. Because human value is not just measured by money earned or by the things that are built; but by the amount of help and consideration given to one another.