The Weeping Woman

11/4/07, Sunday. "The Weeping Woman" is a new visual snapshot for me of the need here in HK. You have to first understand traffic flow here. Mass transit is incredible. Virtually everyone travels by train, subway, bus, boat, and taxi here.. (We have traveled all of these several/numerous times in the last 3 days.) Between the connection points of all these hubs are shopping malls and stores EVERYWHERE! The HK people walk & shop, shop & walk.. they are out and about in the midst of all the hustle and bustle. Sunday afternoon, while we were walking through one of the key mall intersections that we often cross (what I've come to call '82nd & Allisonville'), I spotted a woman standing out in crowd of hundreds of people passing by. She was leaning over the 2nd floor mezzanine, hand over her eye, head lowered...and she was just sobbing away. She was alone... truly alone in this sea of people passing by. I felt for her hurt and was drawn to speak to her in compassion; but between language, age, gender and cultural barriers, it just wasn't appropriate. The sad thing was that in my brief observation, NO ONE comforted her. She sums up for me some of my other observations of life in HK.. the people here are largely successful professionally and economically... they are are in one of the most affluent and powerful World class cities, and yet many have no faith heritage or have a mixture of Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, or atheism. So, when they are found hurting and alone like this woman, many are truly alone and empty. Over-generalizing, perhaps.. but it is my impression and one of the snapshots that motivates me to care for these people with the love of Christ.