April has been a bit of a marathon so far, so I'm going to get straight to my top story.
My story starts with a question...
When was the last time you gave money to someone on the street?
Wait...that was an assumption.
Do you ever give money to people on the street?
When was the last time you gave someone on the street money?
My answer is - tonight.
I was walking home through Uptown Waterloo and had stopped to read a menu on a store front wall. I noticed a young man, probably about my age, with a dog, sitting on the street corner. He was wearing a denim jacket and blue sweat pants. He had a cardboard sign.
I looked in my wallet to see what kind of change I had. And like any good middle class student would have it, I was straight out of loonies and toonies - I only had $20 bills. New ones. Fresh from the bank machine.
I said hello and asked "who's this?" as I leaned over to pet the black lab. They do have my heart after all. Josh told me that he's had Rasta for four years. He's been on and off of the streets for about that time too. He's a 26 year old, who no longer uses, and is a framer by trade who has a had a slow winter. He told me about his life in California and how he's waiting to hear about an apartment approval tomorrow. We continue to chit chat. I then lean over and ask, "do you have change for a $20?" Obviously we share a laugh and I gave Josh the bill. He is gracious. I insisted and tried to convince him it is my pleasure.
Rick then walks over to join us on the street corner. Josh and I had been sitting for a while. Rick and Josh have a connection already - Rick has recently broken off his marriage. I asked him what happened, and they asked me how much time I had! It was Rick's birthday after all, we didn't want to spend the last 10 minutes of his 26th birthday talking about her.
Rick tells me about the time he broke some dude's arms because the dude touched his sister. No one touches his family. And he was sentenced to 18 months in dc incarceration. Something I know nothing about. Rick educates me. He tells me that life in jail leads you to two things - 1. working out 2. getting into trouble. So Rick got into reading. He got out in 10.
Rick needs 75 cents for something, so I give him a birthday dollah. He asks me what I do. I tell him that I'm a grad student at waterloo studying recreation and leisure. He asks if I'm studying to be a gym teacher. I tell him no, but I thank him for his stereotype. I tell him I'm into summer camp. I'm into safe places for kids. And learning. Rick then tells me he's always meant to work at camps. I tell him its not too late. He then tells me about a volunteer opportunity he has running workshops on health.
He wants to be a guidance counselor one day.
For now, to pay the bills, Rick is a mechanic. Funny - I had just been telling Josh if he was good with his hands, he might like being a mechanic. We even brainstormed other jobs he might like. Transferable skills! He's got them...he's just never 'framed' his skills like that.
Josh had a sign that said "No Food" presented in a pretty artistic way. Those sharpie markers and cardboard can create magic together I tells ya. I suggest that Josh might also like getting into web design. As we were all getting up to go our seperate ways, Josh said I could keep the sign. He figures he won't need it.
Josh, Rick and I had created community.
I shared a human experience with other people. And I believed. I believed in someone. I believed in some thing. I reached out, and I believed in community.
The common built unity.
So, I'm wondering...what do you give?
What do you build?
http://healthycommunities.uwaterloo.ca/
Today's Key Note Speaker, Dr. Trevor Hancock spoke about how really - everything about what we do should be human centered. After all, its about the people, stupid.
~ this was Dr. Hancock's clever title to his key note address this afternoon.
hannah banana
2 comments:
I think this post underscores something I learned from my time at the Ottawa Food Bank: poor people are people, they're just poor. And, there are lots of reasons why people become poor, reasons that are unknown to the vast majority who never take the time to listen. Those who do realize just how human poor people really are; they're talented, thoughtful, kind, resilient, funny, etc. And, they're also vulnerable, as we all are, to hard times. My experience is that poverty strikes most people for reasons beyond their immediate control. But, even those who have made bad decisions deserve a second chance.
More important than giving money to a person on the street is taking the time to listen to a person on the street. To me that's the importance of your gesture--what you describe as creating community. When people listen, not only do they become more generous, but they become more intolerant of a society that ignores such economic disparity. The struggles of the poor become their own. You can apply the same principle to international development. I'm convinced that one of the biggest obstacles to making the alleviation of global poverty a priority is the inability of citizens of the developed world to empathize with those of the developing world.
The lesson here is that human beings, whether rich or poor, are really not that different at all. Fundamentally, we all have the same basic needs. To paraphrase Maslow, we all require nurishment, security, love, self-esteem, and the chance to make the most of our potential. But, we're also all one stroke of bad luck away from being completely vulnerable and dependant on someone else's charity.
Post a Comment