Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children s food and throw it to the dogs. He tells her in effect that his time and energy are meant for the children of Israel not for her because she is a Gentile, who is beyond the boundaries of his work. We know what it is like to have some one make a demand upon us when we are tired. You mutter something under your breath or if it is safe enough, you say something that has a ring of anger in it. But it s not just family or friends that make a demand at the wrong time, is it.
Strangers do it too.
Audrey and I were on our way to the theatre in London, window shopping on Strand Street. But the homeless were sitting or lying on their sleeping bags in the doorways and on the sidewalk. We saw a girl who couldn t be over 13, playing Amazing Grace on a flute. Her handkerchief was spread out on the sidewalk in front of her ready to receive a few paltry coins. We try to escape on the sidewalk or the highway that goes around the unsightly neighborhood or the plane that flies high above the muck and marvel of our world, but all of a sudden a stranger appears, and we are drawn into that person s humanity.