What would Jesus do if He was here?

This morning I was faced once more with a situation that seems to be all too common in Fond Parisien. It is one that makes me at first frustrated and impatient, but then when I put myself out of the way and look through the eyes of Jesus' love, it makes me sad, so sad.

She was thin, strange –looking and a social outcast, the lady that was standing before me. She kept saying the same story over and over and swayed on her feet as if she was drunk. Her eyes had the most far away look as if maybe, just maybe there was light at the end of the long tunnel she was walking through. She kept saying she needs to see a doctor, she never sleeps at night, and she doesn’t want to be sick like this anymore.

The town calls her mentally crazy or ‘fou’ for lack of better terminology. This may mean she is mentally handicapped, or perhaps she has had so much stress in her life that one day she woke up and literally went crazy. But what makes me sad is that many of these people have spirits cast upon them or are ravaged by the chains of an evil spirit. These people walk up and down our streets night and day and the rest of us pass them by on the right and on the left.

It makes me wonder what Jesus would do if he was here? Or even more what should I be doing ? Am I filled with compassion or is it just pity? Do I look away in disgust or do I stop and at least say ‘hi’ to them? Am I offering that hope that they may be reaching for at the end of the long tunnel?

As is often the case I didn’t really know what to do. There really was nothing to do, we all concluded so I sent the lady away and told her she needs to find her family and not be wandering on the streets alone. In this case I do know she has an aunt who she lives with, but often these people may not have anyone. So then what, what if no one sees her, or hears her? What then?

~Julia