The Coffee Stirrer

Over the past few weeks I have noticed a different coffee stirrer lying on the office kitchen floor on two different days.

You probably know what I mean when I say a coffee stirrer. It is smaller than a straw in length and in width but made of the same plastic type material. Most of the stirrers I see are brown in color and they are used to mix creamer and sugar in either coffee or tea.

Each time I saw a stirrer I wondered why it was there and why no one picked it up. Was it too insignificant to pick up? Didn’t someone have the time to pick it up? Didn’t anyone know how to pick it up? Did people figure that the maintenance people would pick it up when they came in during the evening?

I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about this but it did occur to me that we may treat people the same way. I know I certainly have.

How do you react when you see someone in need that isn’t like you but something about them causes you to feel uncomfortable? It could be their appearance (race, clothing, cleanliness, health, body odor, etc), behavior, vehicle, items they are carrying or any number of things.

Are they too insignificant for you to get involved with?

Are you too busy to help or find out anything about them?

Do you feel unprepared to deal with their issues?

You don’t think you know what to do?

Do you think that someone else more able would probably come along and help them?

Is the answer to ignore the person? I don’t think so. I think we need to do what we can and that could be calling someone or some organization to help them or giving them a ride somewhere or seeing what they need and trying to help solve the problem.

It may require a change in our attitude and behavior but it’s what we are called to do. We don’t have to relegate helping people to specific times, locations or organizations.