Stop. Look. See. Love.

"You looked at me. You stopped to talk to me. Nobody hardly ever does that."

These words stopped us in our tracks.

Having come together with other young adults in the Archdiocese of Chicago to deliver food and water to people on the streets of Chicago and to engage in conversation with them, it was a cold night to be walking the downtown streets. We had just stopped for a few moments to talk to a woman named Sharon, a Chicago native as it turns out, and had made our way a bit further up Michigan Avenue when we met Lucy. The leader of our group, a senior at Loyola Chicago and a member of their Labre service group, seemed to recognize her from before (as he often served on the same route), but the rest of us had never met her. She was a bit standoffish at first, but then she really just wanted to talk.

And that's when she said it to us: "You looked at me. You stopped to talk to me. Nobody hardly ever does that."

At that moment, I looked around at the many people walking up and down the street, coming back from dinner or shopping in some of the high end retail stores. Others seemed to just be on their way home. I saw myself among them (minus the high end retail store shopping) - how many times do I pass by people on the street because I am in a hurry or because talking to them might be uncomfortable or for any other silly reason? It was disheartening and enlightening at the same time. We take human interaction for granted, but some of these people I met on Monday night hadn't had any real interaction all day.

Everyone has a story. Everyone has a name. Why is it so hard for us to recognize that?

So, when you're reading this, please take a moment to pray for Sharon, and Lucy, and Anthony, and Tyler, and Rich... And if you ever see them on Michigan Avenue, please make sure you take a moment to stop and say hello.