Last weekend in Chattanooga, while exiting the freeway, I noticed two men walking along the road picking up trash and cleaning up along the roadway. This, in itself, isn't unsual. There are often groups of people helping keep America beautiful and I'm thankful for them. These two men had brightly colored vests on alerting motorists to their presence. The exception was that on the back of one of the men's vests were these words:

I AM A DRUNK DRIVER

That has bothered me ever since I saw it. In no way, do I want to diminish the problem of drunk driving. I am completely aware of the pain drunk driving has caused. I don't know if this man had multiple offenses, if he hurt someone, if he killed someone. But I'm also painfully aware that I don't know this man's story. I need to guard against looking down on him and quickly judging him to be a bad person. It was painful seeing a person wear those words. Do words like that make a person remorseful, defiant, or are they just humiliating? As I was telling Dena about this, she mentioned how she would hate to have all her sins listed down her back. No kidding.

I recently finished reading the book "Same Kind of Different As Me." This book gave me an understanding that sometimes life circumstances can determine some of the choices people make. Again, I completely understand that people still can choose and sometimes they choose wrong. "Same Kind of Different As Me" was about a black homeless man whose destiny was more or less chosen for him until someone entered his life who honored him and found worth in him. Then he had the opportunity to rise above his circumstances. The problems of the world are overwhelming if you let yourself think about it, but we must allow ourselves to think about them. If one person helps one person and it goes on and on, then a difference is made. I found this quote by Mother Teresa some time back and it's one of my favorites. "Help one person at a time and begin with the person next to you." Who is next to me whose life I can touch? I don't have to think very long for someone to come to mind. The question then is, will I do anything about it?