"They" and "Them"

   I think of people this morning. People all around me, coming into and out of my life all the time, some that I know the names they are called, some without a name to me, but that are there in my picture. What of those folk?

   Do I bear any responsibility to them? Are they just there, or there for a reason? Are they just a mass of humanity that are out there, or individuals with hopes and dreams, or despair and desperation?

   I think of the people that I saw as I was out early this morning:

   A man and woman out for their early morning walk,
   A woman on her way to work,
   A woman walking out to get her paper,
   A man putting his garbage can out for pick up,
   A man reading his newspaper,
   A man cutting the green on hole no. 2,

   Some of these I knew and  could call them by name, but some I did not, just realizing that they were people out there, and that they existed in my line of sight just then.

   I thought of the words that I had read in Scripture earlier before I went out:

   "Blessed are the..."
   "Blessed are those..."

   Eight verses in Matthew's Gospel referring to people.

   Then a quote that came to me from Thoreau:

   “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"

   The complete opposite of those in the "blessed" category.

   So I ask more questions:

   Which am I, anyway? Is it just my curiosity that leads me to think about them at all? Do I care anything about them, whoever "them" are?

   Perhaps these are just the ramblings of a confused mind, but could they not be the answer to my prayer as I started my day, before the walking time?

   "God, please give me Your eyes to see and Your ears to hear, those in my world today"

   He did, and now what?