With all the publicity about 'The Man with the Golden Voice', it makes me wonder, why is it news? Why should everyone be so surprised that a homeless person should have something to offer?
Anyway, it's timely for Stephen Snyder's post on empathy on Sexuality Today. He argues for a case of 'otherness' that we usually feel towards homeless people. As though they are completely separate, and that their situation could not possibly happen to us. Snyder writes:
'It was a cold Sunday morning in Manhattan. Bundled up against the wind, I passed a homeless man holding a sign that said, 'Please help me. My sleeping bag was stolen last night.'
All of a sudden I had the impulse to take him to buy a sleeping bag. For a magic moment, the barrier between me and this stranger had broken down, and I couldn't walk away from the fact that he'd lost his sleeping bag. Surprising myself, I offered to do so, and he immediately accepted...'
Besides the shout out to BH (thanks Stephen:), it's a great post. Read more here: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sexualitytoday/201101/empathys-magic
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