TRANSPARENT PEOPLE
"Transparent people" are usually thought of as those who are open, honest, and straightforward in their thoughts and feelings, allowing others to easily perceive their true selves. They are people who create trust and meaningful connections by sharing relevant information and being consistent in their words and actions. But that's not who are the subject of this essay.
When a window is transparent, you can see right through it to focus on something or things on the other side of the window. That's what windows are for (as well as to keep bugs outside and regulate the temperature inside). Today what I'm talking about are the "transparent people" you can see right through, like a window. Another expression for them is "invisible people."
We have a strong tendency to see what we expect to see and want to see. We filter out objects and concepts that we don't expect or want to perceive. Transparent or invisible people who, when they're standing or sitting near you, you'd rather not see. They're the disabled or ugly or deformed or elderly people that, when you do look at them, make you feel uncomfortable. They remind you of sickness, disability and death – things you want to push out of your mind.
And sometimes, some people actually push these people out of their way to "get ahead in life." Others even cheat and deceive them, robbing them of their savings or homes. The first kind of "transparent people" tend to be open and trusting toward others, expecting others to be just like them. After all, that's how society ought to work: human society is built on trust. But this last sort of people take advantage of that trust for their own gain, to "get ahead in life." Some adult children even curse, blame, or take advantage of their own parents to "get their inheritance early." The first commandment with a promise is "Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you." Woe to those who do not honor their father and mother, for it will not go well with them!
We may say to ourselves – "Thank God I'm not like that kind of person!" But are we just a little less so? We might not literally push the "invisible people" out of the way or take advantage of them, but we might simply look right through them as if they were transparent or invisible, or just look away. We see what we expect to see and want to see. We filter out the things that don't fit into our worldview. The unconscious biases of ageism and ableism automatically, without our consciously thinking about it, shape how we see the world. Ageism and ableism are in the air we breathe unawares, just like a fish is unaware of the water it swims in.
Caring for a disabled family member by yourself can be overwhelming: see "Families caring for disabled relatives face unthinkable choices as Medicaid cuts loom." While living in Russia for 17 years and ministering to disabled children and adults, we became painfully aware of the meaning of the Russian verb "nenavidet'" – "to hate" in English. It literally translates as "not look at" or "not see." When we ignore someone who has a disability, or is unattractive, or is elderly... we are passively hating that person. We're not actively doing something harmful, it's what we're not doing that causes harm. Old people put in a nursing home who aren't visited by family or friends can simply wither up and die from lack of love and companionship: neglect. The cause of death can actually be written down as "loneliness" on a death certificate.
This is why we've developed plans and drawings for Building The ARC – Agape Restoration Communities with a chapel-community room and 12 living units, where both able-bodied people and people with disabilities, families and singles, young and old can live, worship, and serve together, along with non-residents who worship in the chapel and assist some of the residents. An ARC is a refuge from the storms of life, a safe and caring environment in the flood of a world that is hell-bent on self-serving pleasure, greed, and pride. Will you DO SOMETHING, or just look the other way? We Christians are all called to be servants, ministering to those in need.
This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He first announced His ministry – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty these who are crushed.... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.18 & 21)
This is what the St. Paul meant when he wrote – "He (Christ) gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers, to equip the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature, perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, Who is the head, Christ; from Whom all the Body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the Body increase to the building up of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind." (Ephesians 4: 11-17)
You can read our whole newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-05-16.htm, and share it!
