As I turned the key in the car yesterday afternoon CBC radio immediately sprang into life. I caught the tail-end of responses to a Thursday program on The Point (it is archived.) The feature was about the ongoing controversy in the public parks of Victoria, British Columbia. Homeless people are sleeping in these parks, mostly in tents, and the municipality isn't happy. The police have been sent in to roust the squatters. The issue was made more complicated and controversial when a supreme court justice ruled that the city didn't have the right to evict the tenters.
As I listened to the pros and cons from respondents I had to admit that if I lived across the street from one of these parks I wouldn't be thrilled about having rhe residents of a tent city as my neighbours. While I'm all for compassion and housing the homeless, I would be keeping a watchful eye even now when my children are no longer youngsters. We all have our double standards.
Yet I immediately thought of Jesus and his disciples who were defacto homeless people when away from Nazareth. When they spent time in Jerusalem they camped out in a public olive orchard called the Garden of Gethsemane. You may have heard of it.
There was a New York billboard campaign a few years ago that showed a homeless man with the caption "How can you worship a homeless guy on Sunday and ignore one on Monday?" Good question.
I could barely convince myself to leave the comfort of my home this blustery morning to visit the gym. What would Jesus do? Where would the Jesus who said "the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" sleep?
Anyone, absolutely anyone can end up on the street. The reality is that each of us is only a hair away from homelessness no matter where we sleep tonight.
ReplyDeleteMany people on the street are people with untreated mental illness who are literally broken. And some, more prone to addiction than others, can no longer make the connection between their addiction and their predicament. It makes sense to those on the outside, but to the addicted mind, feeding the addiction takes prescendence over common sense. We on the outside can shake our heads at the absurdity of it, but for those stuck within the cycle, trading shelter for the drug of choice makes perfect sense. It seems like freedom. Freedom can be a prison. It's sort of an enigma. If my homeless loved one found a tent to sleep in, I'd be relieved. Yet, I would find it hard to live in a neighborhood where the homeless people in "my" park are not known to me a bit scary. I'm learning everyday. My loved one is precious. And so I have to conclude that I haven't learned enough yet, because I want you to care for my homeless loved one, but I know in my heart I am not quite evolved enough to really care for yours. Painful as that is to admit.
One of the people who responded to The Point story said that he had a son living in a tent in a park and was upset that his child had been evicted. As you indicate, pupil, most of us would be upset. And you're right that the compassion we feel for our own doesn't extend to others as readily.
ReplyDelete