Friday Morning Coffee

This Friday morning finds me having coffee and quiet time at a Starbucks in Springfield. I have a morning meet with my friend and local civil rights activist, Pastor Christie Love of The Connecting Grounds (TCG). It's the normal way of things that advocates of civil rights draw fire from those that make it their business to oppress others or stand in the way of equality for all citizens of a community. 
My hope for our meeting this morning is to offer a place of rest and respite as well as a safe place to vent.

Pastor Christie is the one that opened my eyes to the often invisible community of our city's unsheltered. Three years ago I showed up at TCG to serve coffee at a warming center where people were waiting to catch a bus to an overnight crisis cold weather shelter. The third night (in a row) that I showed up she just smiled and said, "I've got you, don't I?"
Truthfully, I've done very little over the past few years while she and others have done so much and fight daily for the rights and betterment of those that are without shelter and so many other basic necessities of life.
Honestly, it's a little embarrassing that I do so little to help others that I know are in need. It's no wonder that the unsheltered community remains invisible to most of us. In part, they want to be unseen because to be seen usually means to be harassed and ridiculed. But a big part of their invisibility is that we don't want to see them. Knowing that someone needs help and then not helping them is a burden that we'd rather not carry. And helping them doesn't always fit into our neat and orderly little world.

I could probably vent for a long time on the state and local governments that are making daily survival even more difficult for our unsheltered friends. For my own mental health I'll pass for right now and maybe address it when I'm better able to process that.

Also for my own health and overall wellbeing, I am going to have to find another volunteer outlet as the shelter season comes to a close. There is no shortage of need. It will just be finding an area that works best for my limited abilities.

John