Yesterday Sierra had some people over for lunch. They are members of the Comunidad Cristiana, people we think we know well, who are battling with food insecurity. While they were eating, a man came to the door to sell odds and ends. I told him we weren't interested, and after a while, he left. I felt a little awkward about rejecting him in front of my guests. Their comment was that he does drugs and doesn't deserve charity. "Everyone knows that."
This morning my housekeeper asked me about one of the women who was at lunch. She didn't know the woman's name, but she wanted me to know that this particular woman is known to steal things. Is it true? I don't know. Maybe currently, maybe in the past. All I know is that at this point, people who don't even know her name "know" her character. Or at least judge it. She's stuck.
Everyone is suspicious of everyone else. Where does it end? Who can be trusted? Or should I be suspicious, too? I don't want to live condemning everyone I pass on the street.
