tolerance & the people we used to be

i witnessed something that made me very angry as i was walking downtown this morning. okay, this is downtown escondido- pretty typical downtown. it's the older part of the city (which is what makes it cool) and yes, there are more homeless people down here than you'd see in the newer, more developed part of the city.
so there's a woman walking down the sidewalk and a homeless man is sitting against the building, talking to himself. it was obvious that he had schizophrenia or some related disease. he was totally in his own world, not bothering or paying the least bit of attention to people walking by. this woman stops about 10 feet away from him, it seemed like she had just noticed that he was sitting there because she was paying attention to her cell phone before. i was across the street and i see her pause and stare at him with a look of scorn or disgust on her face. she turns away and quickly crosses the street (jaywalking) and when she gets to the other side by where i was standing she looked over her shoulder at him and i heard her sigh and mumble something about "those people." then she kept walking and crossed back to the other side of the street about 1/2 a block later.
i felt a combination of anger and sadness and something like numbness that i can't quite identify. i know that i have a special interest in homeless and mentally disabled people, but i just was shocked at this woman's behavior, her naivety, her subscription to society's stereotypes. i guess i have a bit of naivety in me too, since i was so shocked that people could still be so ignorant, cruel, and intolerant.
i hate society's view that homeless people, or mentally ill people are dangerous, dirty, or less worthy. they get treated as less than human. and that's not to say that there aren't some homeless or mentally ill people who are dangerous- there are. but there are also some blonde hair, blue eyed people who are equally as dangerous. you can't stereotype an entire group that way! i know enough to be careful of any stranger, but i don't make the assumption that they are going to hurt me based on some category that they may fit into.
no matter how irritating that person on the street corner begging for money may be when i am trying to get to class or work on time, i can't get angry at them. i also can't get angry at the person walking down the street talking or yelling to themselves while i am trying to find some peace and quiet. because i used to be that person. i don't remember it, but i know that there were times in the past when i was in the midst of a psychotic episode and i was walking the streets hallucinating and talking to myself. i got picked up by the police and taken to the hospital because they found me walking around downtown chandler with no ID and i couldn't even tell them my name. they said i couldn't answer any of their questions. i was in my own world. i would hope that the people who i crossed paths with during those times treated me with respect, rather than rudeness. i know that i was oblivious to anyone who passed. i was in my own world, my own reality, unaware of anything going on around me. and i firmly believed that my reality was everyone else's. i've also been that homeless person sitting on the sidewalk, or under a tree at a park. when you don't have anywhere to go there aren't many options. i didn't bother anyone and i didn't beg for money (was too scared anyway), but i never would have hurt anyone. i remember the looks of disgust, they're burned into my memory forever because they hurt so badly. but i also remember the acts of kindness that people showed. i didn't ask for anything, but there were people who would stop and ask me if they could buy me something to eat or drink. or just say hi. or sit down on the bench next to me and talk. and i was grateful for that.
thank God i am not in either situation anymore, but i know that i could be again. anyone could be. you never know. and maybe i am more open to being tolerant to people in those situations because i understand from a personal perspective, but still, the world as a whole needs to be a little nicer. it makes me so sad. i want to educate people, but it won't help. people have to want to change. all i can do is continue to show kindness and tolerance to those who are different from me. i'm not going to suddenly abandon all material things and go live a life of aestheticism, but i want to be the person whose kindness makes the day of that person who feels scorned by the world.
sometimes i forget that people act the way they do out of ignorance- and it may not be an ignorance stemming from hatred, but just from an inability to understand. and i need to show those people tolerance too (which just might be the hardest part).
i bet most people would say that the "golden rule" is a good way rule to base your actions on, but it's also important to remember who we used to be and what it felt like, how we were treated. everyone we cross paths with, whether they are better off or worse off than us, we could be in their place at any point in time.