Curate, connect, and discover
Someone was panhandling at a stoplight I always get caught at today. And when I handed over the couple dollars in cash I had in my wallet to him and he thanked me, I realized something.
I wasn’t afraid at all.
I had to think back. Because there was a time when I was so unreasonably afraid of homeless people that I unintentionally taught my Sheltie to bark at them because I would get so stressed out if I even got stopped next to someone panhandling.
And that was when it hit me.
That fear isn’t mine. It’s a former host’s fear. And her fear was because if people she knew could hurt her the way they did, she couldn’t even imagine what a stranger might be able to do to her.
I empathize with her fear. But I’m glad that I don’t share it. It feels like growth. In some small way.