Category Archives: Consider

Consider, Homeless

Abbotsford a Christian City? Only in its own mind.

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I am not saying there are not some good Christians in the city. I was speaking with some of them today (Sunday January 22,2006). They were not in a church with a group of their fellows proclaiming themselves christians and asserting their love of God. Rather, they were outside taking food to the hungry. This congregation rents space for their services, hoping one day to be able to afford their own place of worship. This day is further away than it could be because they have chosen to use resources to help feed the homeless and the hungry. Over the past year and more I have come into contact with many diverse Christians. Some I admit I have deep philosophical differences with, some I differ on basic beliefs with and some I share spiritual ground with. BUT the one thing all these diverse Christians have in common that I cannot argue with is that they live their faith. Not with loud words proclaiming their Christianity (OK some get a little loud and rambunctious) but through their actions. Christ chased the money-lenders from the temple and chastised those who only proclaimed their faith in church but failed to live their faith out in the world. I wonder what he would think of the majority of those who would claim to be christian but choose not to live their faith in their daily lives?

As stated, I am not saying there are not some good Christians in this city, just that the poor christians would appear to have them vastly outnumbered. What do I base this on? Observation and the fact that to me actions are far more revealing of what people are truly like than all their pious words.

We have in fact, two kinds of morality, side by side: one that we preach, but do not practice, and another that we practice, but seldom preach.

Bertrand Russell

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.

Abigail Adams

We citizens are the city and we must accept responsibility for the actions that the city undertakes. When the City begins to act in a manner that inflicts harm upon the less fortunate members of our society, it is up to us to require the City to act in a manner reflecting the citizens beliefs about acceptable behaviour. It is not acceptable to sit back and do nothing.

A person may cause evil to others not only by his actions but by his inaction, and in either case he is justly accountable to them for the injury.

John Stuart Mill

It is not enough to merely claim to be a just and compassionate society. We must match our actions to our words, or we will have become part of the problem. In turning our backs on those in need we let the darkness into our souls and our hearts. There is no need for the devil to act, throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph

The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.

Albert Einstein

Note: see associated article on street view – a interesting question

Consider, Federal, Municipal

I voted – did you?

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I went and voted today. As I wrote earlier having become one of the “undesirables” I have a vested interest in protecting the Charter of Rights. This seems to be particularly important in light of the city government’s current war on the underclass to which I belong. I was allowed to cast my vote. It appears that in the eyes of the Federal government I still have citizenship rights and the right to cast my ballot. In fact it appears that the Federal government considers me a citizen of Abbotsford, in spite of what the city government may claim, as they accepted my right to vote in a downtown Abbotsford poll.

A tip of the hat to Elections Canada with regards to voting. Although they had to look up the procedure for a homeless person to vote, the people at the poll were courteous and unfazed by my homelessness. I needed ID and to swear an oath but that was to be expected and reasonable. Nice to see that at least one level of government is in touch with reality with respect to the existence of the homeless.

Consider, Homeless

Giving Thanks

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I want to take a few minutes to say thank you to some deserving people. To all those who got together and held a Christmas Eve dinner for the homeless and disadvantaged – Thanks. To the kind people at MCC supportive Care Services who gave us games, music, story telling and a great meal on Christmas Day itself – Thanks. To the thoughtful member of al-anon who invited several of the meeting attendees who lacked a Christmas dinner destination to join her and her family – Thanks. To the people who put on the pancake breakfast in downtown old Abbotsford: nice job – I saw the joy on the faces of several people who attended and received not only food but many items very useful to those on the street and/or in need and heard how thankful they were for your thoughtfulness. To those who served a lunch at the Salvation Army on Tuesday December 27, I (we) appreciated your time – especially the young ladies who where there with their mother. Not only were they instrumental in serving the food but also their smiles and manners were a special Christmas treat – Thank you.

A general thank you for all those who took it upon themselves to help give those of us who need help to get back on our feet to have a more merry time.

I would be very remiss if I failed to take the opportunity to thank those members of the congregation of the Church of the Nazarene who come down to Street Hope on Wednesday evenings with food (tasty), gloves, hats, outerwear, clothes and the so necessary bedding. More, they take the time to get to know the people, to listen, to talk to them and treat everyone as real human beings. What a boost to the moral. What a difference in the way all to many treat the homeless – as a nuisance to be avoid and/or removed from (their) sight.

Oh and for those scrooges at social assistance for their dis-assistance a BAH-HUMBUG!!

For our so called leaders – a mighty BAH-HUMBUG for not only failing to address the many and varied shortcomings of the current system, but also for the fact that they so often fail to see the reality of the situation through their rose coloured glasses and for failing to heed Albert Einstein when he said “A man should look for what is, and not what he thinks should be”. Open up your minds, take a look at the real world and start to address the situation.

Caveat emptor, Consider

Media

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Several months ago I read an ad for Global Television seeking an assignment manager. The ad was full of all the right buzzwords you would expect but hidden away among all those nice buzzwords was a chilling prospect. Part of the job was coordination of editorial content among various elements of the Global/Can West media empire, seeking to maximize the bottom line. Or is that to toe the party line?

I grew up in an era of newspaper competition and contrasting editorial viewpoints. It is disturbing to think about how we have lost all these differing views to media conglomeration, to consider the stifling effect that media conglomeration has on the debate and reporting of issues both large and small. While coordinating editorial content may be advantageous to the bottom line, what is the cost to the public in reporting of stories and presentation of diverse and opposing viewpoints? Where once we were presented with opposing views, ideas and thoughts on important issues we now get one (‘the company’) point of view. Important issues often are no longer examined from many angles and we are no longer exposed to all views, thoughts of considerations needed to make important choices/decisions. Making decisions may appear easier since we are given far less to think about. But, is it a good idea to be seeking or more accurately to be accepting this easy way out? Is it reasonable to be seeking easy, simple answers in an increasingly complex world? Does/has not this approach just lead/resulted in making BAD decisions?

How much does the corporate drive for bottom line results affect what appears in the paper/magazine/television news? I grew up with our ‘local’ paper being owned and published by a resident of the town. I knew the family who were members of the local community. On occasion things got a little lean when the paper took a position on important local issues that some advertisers disagreed with. As a citizen the owner/publisher took these positions and accepted the (temporary) revenue downturns because some important issues need to be addressed and someone will disagree with the papers position. Now the Herald is part of a chain, as are the Abbotsford papers, and focused on the bottom line. To avoid offending advertisers and decreasing revenue, the public ends up with sanitized, do not offend anybody stories.

Another major effect is that of the drive to reduce costs. To address a complex issue such as homelessness is going to require time for research, investigation and thought – perhaps a series of articles. This approach represents a far higher cost than just banging out simple stories. This addressing of complex events carries a significant chance of offending some vested interest, with the potential for a negative effect on the bottom-line.

Doubt this? Think back a few months to the picture of the woman in the hat with the large flower and her dog in her arms. Nice easy story about the closing of the Fraser Inn. The harder part, the most costly part would be a story about: where is she now? What effect did the closing of the Fraser Inn have on her? On other displaced residents? What has the welfare system done for – or to – her? Does she need help now? Do the other ex-residents? What actions did the city take (not take) in accepting (denying) responsibility for the effect of its actions on the innocent bystanders (the residents) of its feud with the owners of the Fraser Inn? Not very likely to be written since it could discomfort readers and advertisers, it would take time and effort and it would/could have a negative effect on bottom line maximization.

The problem with having to rely on media providing the information to make decisions on complex issues, in this current age of media conglomerates, lies in the old computer programmers’ adage:

GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT

Consider

Gratitude

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I read an article once that postulated that one reason so many think society is deteriorating is that to many people either lack or fail to use basic civility. Now citing such simple things as “Excuse Me”, “Thank You”, “Please” for some of society’s ills may sound trite, but the use of these words reflects an attitude of consideration for others. You bump into someone and say “excuse me” and the incident can end there. How often have you seen people bump and their reaction is to start screaming and things go downhill from there. The use of “please and thank you” seems to be a dying art-form.

I was/am appalled at the discourtesy some, no scratch some, most of my fellow homeless have been displaying on Saturdays. There are several Korean bible students (Jacob, Stephen et al) who have reached the point in their studies that they need to do a little practice preaching with real people. Now these brave folks could undoubtedly have found a nice safe and easy place/group for this practice, but have chosen instead to go where there is a real need. I admire their bravery and faith, but I have serious reservations about their sanity. They use the Street Hope premises for their ministry, serving a delicious and healthy meal. Then they ask for our attention for a few minutes so that they can have a chance to work with a live audience. They keep the message short and simple (as befits the audience they have) and choose appropriate (to the audiences situation) passages.

The homeless know that these brave folks just want the opportunity to share a short message and gain experience in the real (very real) world. Many homeless rush in, gobble the food and rush out before they ‘have to listen’. Worse still are those who sit around and talk or in other ways disrupt the reading and ideas they wish to share. Now I could get technical here and cite ‘implied contracts’ feed us/we listen but I won’t. What I will cite is the lack of manners and consideration this behaviour shows. They take the time to prepare and serve a meal. More importantly they take the time to choose and prepare a bible passage and their thoughts on this passage, choosing messages that we all could benefit from keeping in mind. And then many of my fellow homeless cannot find it in their hearts to do them the courtesy of listening. Yet, if these people decided to stop coming down to Street Hope, the homeless would be bitching about how inconsiderate they were to stop coming. The homeless have also have missed the positive thoughts and ideas that the last two passages and sharings have contained. Myself, I could use all the positive mental images and ideas I could get. So I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to these brave folk and their friends and spouses who help out. THANK YOU.

Of course these are not the only people that many fail to extent basic courtesy to. There are those who cannot be bothered to take their trays over to stack dishes and trays for easier washing or to put their garbage in the garbage. They leave it for the volunteers to do, these people who have done us the kindness to come down, prepare the meal, serve the meal, wash the dishes and clean up after we leave. And those slobs cannot even bother to help out to the extent of a simple task of putting ones tray and dishes in a place that makes the volunteers’ job easier. I once saw someone turn up after lunch was finished. One of the volunteers went out of her way to get him some buttered buns (all that was left) so that he would not have nothing. He screamed at her, through the buns at her and kept swearing at the top of his lungs. She had gone out of her way to help and because it was not what he wanted, when he wanted he felt free to heap abuse on her. To often many homeless forget that these people do not have to be there, that they are there out of the goodness of their hearts. Then there are those who feel hard done by because the bag lunches only contain a cheese sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, apiece of fruit and some cookies. They also have no hesitation in complaining to the people who have provided that it should be better. They have provided the food out of their own pockets, made up the bags and brought them to the hungry. They do this every week it is needed without fail and choose to err on the side of providing us with a lunch to have as supper rather than chance us not getting anything to eat at all. And these ungrateful wretches complain, when they should be thanking their lucky stars that people with this kindness in them exist.

I have seen all too many examples of this lack of appreciation for all the hard work and effort that some caring people go to helping out the homeless and the poor. Failing to give thanks or worse giving abuse where thanks are due. They feel hard done by when they cannot even say a simple thank you. I apologize for those ignoramuses and assure you that I certainly appreciate your hard work and efforts.

THANK YOU