A little effort

I caught a glimpse into the life of my uncle Red today. I took his photo albums home today to go through them. He had all kinds of pictures of smashed cars from accidents, people he had met along his daily routine in life, and pictures of family and acquaintences. What blessed my heart was that he had pictures of me starting at about the age of one and up. He liked me- I knew he did! I remember thinking that he didn't like me when I was little- I was a nuisance to him it seemed. He was always so worried I would get into his stuff at Grandma's. But as I grew up, he softened up when I would challenge him in his story telling or tease him back.

The part that stabbed into my heart was that humans can be incredibly cold to those with handicaps. He had various pictures of people that it seemed he wanted to be friends with that you could tell didn't want to give him the effort of a smile when he took their picture- some wouldn't even look at him. Anyone that knew him, knew that it was next to impossible to not know that he was there. He wanted attention, starved for it, and they just slapped him in the face. I'm angry that he was treated that way- that people took advantage of him and his willingness to help and yet thought him so beneath them to even deserve a smile or a hello. There's a real breakdown of the human spirit in this society and it makes me sad that he only knew a handful of genuine people that cherished him. I pray that God will have mercy on them when it's their turn to explain their actions to God.