Dignified Humanity

The other day I was driving through a parking lot of a strip mall here in Honolulu. As we were driving I was looking out the window and I saw this lady standing in between two cars. Upon first glance she was a homeless lady standing between two cars, upon my second glance I noticed she was standing there letting nature flow (if you get what I mean). The first thoughts that raced through my mind were "oh how gross, she is going to the bathroom right there in public". The second thoughts that jogged into mind were "what have we become as a society when we cannot even dignify someone's humanity enough to let them use the restroom in a store". My mom, who was driving, noticed the same sight. We began to dialogue about why this woman would stand between two cars and answer nature's call. Was it because she just didn't care? Was it a protest to her inhumane treatment by the stores, and she just didn't have a choice?
Later I saw her standing on the other side of the parking lot. She had done her best to clean herself up, she had put on some makeup and was trying to smile as people passed. This led me to believe that it was not that she just didn't care but rather, due to the apathy of the stores, just didn't have a choice.
When we notice these types of things within our society, within our communities, within our churches, within ourselves, we should be compelled to action. Instead most of us re-enforce our indifference, our apathy, our narcissism. We have a hard time stepping out of our comfort zones to do something. How many people in that extremely busy parking lot saw that woman standing between those two cars? The parking lot was full and I saw many people staring at her in shock that she could do such a thing. So many people saw this and no one, including me, did anything.
Jesus' entire ministry was about dignifying a fallen humanity through redemption, from His death on the cross, to feeding the hungry. If we are to be like Jesus we need to be about dignifying people's humanity. We must remember that our humanity is the image of God. So to dignify the humanity of someone is to dignify the image of God in them.