The rag woman

DATELINE: August 9 2013
Patricia E Lyon

Mony drove us to class on Highway 6. We went through a red light. (A common occurrence). As we slowly moved forward, I heard a child’s bicycle horn and turned toward a woman pulling a large cart, like a farm trailer. She held a bar in each hand but stopped now and then to squeeze the bulb that made the squeak. The trailer was filled with folded cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and cans. She was wearing a heavy long-sleeved black shirt. Her hair was covered with a cap and a scarf. She was collecting recyclables, a convenience for businesses and a source of income for her.

I thought “What an easy life I have had, I have not had to pull a heavy wagon to earn money to buy rice and take care of my children.”

My second thought was of the story by Walter Wangerin, Jr., called “The Rag Man.” I was introduced to the Lenten story by Bishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader. The idea is that the “Rag Man” takes the rag of your sorrow or wounded-ness and replaces it with a new clean cloth and new life. But in taking on your old rags, his own life is diminished.

I see things in Cambodia that I take for granted on the opposite side of the world. When I am tired and feel myself thinking selfish thoughts, I am reminded how blessed I am that the Cambodian people share their lives with me.