dependent or self-sufficient

One of my most favorite things about living in downtown Los Angeles between skid row and bunker hill, is how the people you walk by on your way to wherever, are just as likely to be industry executives as incapacitated indigents. This isn’t just voyeuristic curiosity, but also a sociological fascination with the differences and similarities between us all. One striking difference I often feel is how the former executive type of group is not likely to ask anything of you, or even to speak to you. The latter group is far more likely to offer a greeting and possibly a request for money, food, or a cigarette. It is the difference between self sufficiency and dependency, and I will admit that I breath a little easier when the person approaching me does not appear to require anything from me including a good evening. If I extend this principle that self sufficiency is better than dependency however my breath catches a little remembering that as a follower of Christ I am called to a life that ought to be used to offering and asking of others looking more like dependency.