You Can, Too

 There are some days when I like to take the long way to the office.  Most of those days, I’ll turn to the South instead of to the North as I exit our neighborhood and will drive out toward what passes for the rural area of Sedgwick County.  I say, “What passes for the rural area” because there aren’t a lot of places left in the county where you can go and not see a house or some kind of development within your field of vision.  One also will find several paved roads in the county…something not often seen in the genuinely rural areas of Kansas.

Today was one of those days.  I went South on Maize Road and turned left on 47^th Street South.  I was heading to South Broadway where I’d make my entrance to the city and come on in to work.  I hadn’t traveled 47^th Street into Broadway before, so I didn’t realize that it dead-ended at the Big Ditch.  I had to turn around and go on south to 55^th, where I crossed the ditch, came to Broadway, and started into the city.

Somewhere between 31^st Street and Pawnee, there is a noticeable change in what one sees when driving South Broadway.  That change lasts until crossing under Kellogg into the downtown business district.  The area becomes a place where one sees a number of folks who, in all probability, either have no place to call home, are living day to day in one of the numerous motels in the area, and are looking for any way they can find to survive the day.

Men are carrying large backpacks as they walk from who-knows-where to who-knows-where.  The entirety of their earthly possessions is probably in that backpack.  Women are sitting on curbs, waiting for whatever, or whoever may come their way.  There’s a man over there picking through a dumpster beside a café.  A couple of guys are on bicycles, burdened down with sacks and backpacks.  A couple is walking out of a motel parking lot onto the street.  A man crosses the street in front of me, forcing me to slow down to let him pass.  He seems oblivious to any traffic.  Inexpensive motels are numerous along with “NO TRESSPASSING” signs everywhere.

Most of the people I see in that neighborhood are in need of a shave, a shower, clean clothes, dental work, or some combination thereof.  Many, if I knew their age, would look years older than their chronological age.  Many, if I just knew, would not have a government identification.  Most all would not have a job.  Many would be substance users.  Many probably get what little money they have through illicit or illegal means.  And many of those I saw could really benefit from decent mental health care.

Yet these folks may be the fortunate ones among those in the homeless and near-homeless community.  Several of them can somehow get enough cash during the day that they can afford a motel room for the night, or at least pay half of the bill and room with someone else.  They may well have friends in the area who can partner with them to help keep away danger and thieves at night.  And food is usually available, at least at times.

But there are some in the homeless community who are so mentally ill or are so tripped out on drugs that they can’t think well enough to find a place inside for the night.  Their behavior is sometimes so bizarre that no one else will befriend them, and no one will associate with them.  They may go days without food because they are so strung out or are suffering a mental crisis to the point that they can’t function even for the basic necessities.

If you live in the Wichita area, and you haven’t driven South Broadway for awhile, please do so at your earliest convenience.  Look around as you go down the street.  Notice those who are otherwise not noticed by polite society.  Think about the fact that these people all have a story.  They all have had, and many still have, family somewhere.  Their main goal each day is survival, whatever that looks like for them.  One hour follows another…one day follows another…one month follows another.  For them, it is an endless entanglement in the web of defeat and isolation that has been spun largely by the upper classes.

We ourselves have created this issue.  As a society we have marginalized, ignored, and vilified those who didn’t measure up to our middle and upper class standards.  Even more importantly, we have failed to heed the words of the Great Teacher of some two thousand years ago when he said that we are to, first of all, love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then just like that command, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  Corollaries to those teachings are the Golden Rule…do to others as you’d like others to do to you…and a host of other teachings that speak of sharing with those who don’t have, befriending the friendless, having compassion on the less fortunate, and seeing all people as children of God worthy of dignity and respect.

Greed and self-centeredness is front and center in our society.  Except we call it ambition and drive, and we celebrate it.  Our culture runs on it…feeds off of it.  And in so doing, we push aside and marginalize those who don’t fit into our cultural box.

I can’t do everything, but I can do something.  I can abide by the Golden Rule.  I can learn what it means to love my neighbor.  I can develop compassion for others.  I can change my attitude and my actions.  I can make a difference.  And you can too.

 

Blessings.