We the People… Still Matter

Finding the Thread, Part Two

Lately, I’ve been thinking about needs.
Not just mine, or yours—but ours.

It started when I realized how often people walk around half-seen, half-heard, hoping someone notices.
Not always crying for help—just… hoping.
Hoping for a glance. A nod. A moment of shared air where someone says,
“I see you.”

That’s what led me back to the idea of synchronicity—
Those “divine appointments” we don’t plan but somehow show up at the exact right time.
You run into an old friend at the store.
You feel prompted to text someone you haven’t thought of in years—and they reply, “How did you know?”

Call it coincidence.
Call it the Holy Spirit.
Call it the golden thread that runs quietly through this loud, chaotic world.
But I think there’s something we’re meant to notice here.

We are wired—designed—to care for one another.

And here’s the question I’ve been sitting with:

Why do we expect the government to do the job we were called to do?

Big government steps in, and all too often, it brings fraud, waste, and strife.
The role of government is to protect its people—that’s it.

The rest?
That’s on us.

It’s our job—mine and yours—to look out for one another.
To see.
To notice.
To respond.

Because the very first human question in Scripture was this:

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”
(Genesis 4:9)

It was meant as a dodge.
A way to distance, to dismiss, to deflect.

And God doesn’t even answer directly—because the answer was always supposed to be obvious.

Yes.
Yes, you are.

I know—it’s complicated.
Cain chose violence over love. Humanity hasn’t always chosen well.

But let’s set aside the extremes.
Forget the small percentage who are truly broken, who live without empathy. That’s not who I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the rest of us.

The ones who walk by someone in need and think,
“Get a job.”
“Work harder.”
“What did you do to get yourself into this mess?”

Instead of simply asking:
“How can I be here for you?”
“What do you need?”
“I see you. I’m here.”

---