Blase Attitude

I’ve come to notice that in the last month and a half of my residency in Chicago, IL people of the city are reserved, without emotional attachment and disengaged by their fellow citizens as they pass them walking in the streets and on the subway – – “Blase Attitude”.

I learned about this big city
phenominom in a sociology class a while back, but have never witnessed it first hand. One example of blase attitude that really drives me nuts is when I am sitting on the bus heading off to work in the morning and the bus begins to get crowded. As the bus fills up, commuters tend to sit up front. The seats nearest to the front door are reserved for the handicapped or seniors. This particular commute I saw an older man give his seat up for a handicapped man, when the rest of the people in all of the reserved seats were young and able to move to a different seat on the bus.

This and other instances I have witnessed have bothered me since. Why do we as people feel the need to ignore other people because of status? As this “issue” was toiling in my mind I happened to read a really eye opening passage in today in John chapter 4.

The story was about Jesus and the woman at the well. A woman came to draw water at the well where Jesus was resting and Jesus began talking to her. She was puzzled because no Jewish man would ever think of talking to her because of her status (she was a samaritan, and considered impure). 

Jesus never had a blase attitude towards people. Seeing this attitude first hand has made me realize how silly it is for judgement to be placed upon people, and the sizing up that takes place from one person to another. 
 We are all equal in God’s Eyes, so why can’t we be equal in eachothers?