Emphasis Preaching Journal

There was a human-interest story in The New York Times several years ago that told about a woman named Phyllis Cohen and her encounter with a homeless woman in Penn Station. She gave the woman a dollar and asked her which was the nearest exit to Macy's.

Phyllis reported, "Her face lit up like a corpse come to life. She gave me detailed directions and walked with me to be sure I got it right, talking animatedly all the way. It seemed as though by asking something of her, by assuming she had something to give, I had validated, or reinstated her personhood."