A Trip Down 6th Street- by Charles Beard

I had a meeting at 6^th and Utica this morning. Because I like to walk, I parked at Peoria and walked down 6^th Street. The Pearl District is an interesting mish-mash of businesses. Construction workers where I parked were renovating an old building — judging from the banner on the back wall I think it’s going to be a dance club. Across the street from this I saw an art studio.

Then the auto repair shops started. I stopped to gawk at a Corvette parked in front of one shop; I could see a nitro tank through the back windshield. One car upholstery shop had the delightful name of Bitchin’ Stitchin’. Various light manufacturing companies dotted the cityscape all the way to Utica. Even with the boarded up buildings, it was a wonderful walk.

On the way back, however, I saw two auto repair employees — working stiffs — take a break outside. They were sitting on the sidewalk in front of their store, probably smoking. An old pick-up truck was parked on the sidewalk, separating them from the street.

As I approached these two, I nodded to say hello. One of them said, “Take a left turn.” I didn’t know what he meant so I kept walking, passing the truck on the right. I saw a homeless man, an Indian with a scraggly beard, walking toward me. I realized that the auto worker had been trying to dissuade me from interacting with the Indian.

I think this incident belies a “keep-to-your-own” culture we have in this city. A businessperson in a suit may have ignored the auto workers. The auto workers ignored the homeless person. Who knows whom the homeless man might have ignored?

Being human, we do this because we have a hard time identifying with people who are not “like us.” If you think about it, most of your friends are probably of the same race, class, and political viewpoint. So are mine. The identification is almost tribal. Yet as Christians we believe that Jesus came to the world to identify with persons from every one of these groups and more. As Catholics, part of the beauty of the Church is its conceptualization as one Body. We are each a vital organ that the Church cannot (or should not have to) do without, whatever group we belong to notwithstanding.

The challenge of this belief is to stretch us outside our tribes. To remain within your tribe is ultimately as isolating as never stretching beyond yourself. Because man is a social being, we will not be able to connect with God unless we are willing to make the effort to connect with others, not just the others we you are advised to take a left turn, for the love of God, don’t.