It's Not Personal?

A friend of mine who I will refer to as "Little Type A" got me thinking about taking things personally when she mentioned a scene in the movie "You've Got Mail". Joe Fox:It wasn't... personal. Kathleen Kelly: What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All that means is that it wasn't personal to you. But it was personal to me. It's *personal* to a lot of people. And what's so wrong with being personal, anyway? Joe Fox: Uh, nothing. Kathleen Kelly: Whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal. I've thought a lot about this and I agree with Little Type A and the fictious Kathleen Kelly. When we interact with one another it should be personal. Our actions should be tempered with the awareness that the receiver is a person. From the waiter you treat with hostility for getting your order wrong to the homeless man begging on the streets, they are all human beings under neath it all. When my husband and I go downtown my husband gets his "bum money"(his words not mine)ready. He places money in his front pocket so that he will not have to get his wallet out. I know that people say you shouldn't give the homeless money because they'll just go buy booze or something with it. Roy and I say so what. Who are we to judge? Here's where my husband so surpasses me as a good person that I kind of hate him a little. One homeless man in particular creeps me out. He is dirty and smelly and I race past him, but then I have to stop. Roy gives the man the money but, talks to him and looks him in the eye like he's a person. He makes it personal. I try to remember to make it personal when I'm standing in line at the grocery store and I'm in a hurry and the check out person is going on and on about something or other. I try to make it personal when I go to my son's school and call each child by name. I try. I stumble a lot. I still haven't made eye contact with Roy's homeless man, but I've stopped running. I've slowed down and stepped outside of my comfort zone a tip toe at a time. My son's first grade teacher taught them that the word encourage means "to put the courage in someone". By making it personal we can do that a little at a time.