How often do you notice mannequins? We notice their clothes, but we never really notice them. I thought about this while walking on the Danforth the other day. We have a lot of store fronts with a lot of mannequins, and I never really think about them.
There is something else we have a lot of on the Danforth as well: Homeless people. I realized that I tend to treat them the same way I treat the mannequins. I pay no attention and walk right past them. I used to chalk this up to being a classic introvert. It struck me recently though that I’ve dehumanized them, rendered them part of the background landscape. I’m now trying to at least say hi, and share a few coins if I have them. They are not just fleshy mannequins.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25
Man, I notice mannequins if they have faces. Some are scarily real. Some are just scary. Some don’t really have faces at all, just these weird heads that are almost faces. Some have egg-shaped plastic things for heads. Some have no heads at all. In Cyprus, they have these mannequin legs that have no torsoes to display trousers along the street. Once I saw a row of them that were naked! That was wild.
Sorry for commenting on the surface and not the depth…
One of these days Liam, I’ll give you the notebook from the day I pretended to be homeless. The best part? People I knew didn’t recognize me as they walked past.