Aug 31st, 2022: Homelessness

 

Homelessness is a real problem in North America.

Wealthy cities tend to have larger populations of homeless folks in their own mecca.

Various cities have tried to clear out homeless people camps.

It does not work because they just move to another highway ramp.

Many of these folks have severe mental illnesses.

They were released from institutions because governments could not accommodate people with such unfitness.

Some are struggling with addictions to substances.

In their world, there is no abundance.

Some end up on the street because of a series of bad decisions.

They have an understanding but don't have the will to overcome their conditions.

I met Rudy one winter morning outside a Vietnamese grocery store.

He asked me for a jug of milk and nothing more.

He was there quite often.

But I have not seen him since the store took precautions.

I wonder what happens to him.

Is he still alive, or has the light of his life dimmed?

Homelessness makes a striking statement about our sinful conditions.

Sometimes it reveals our callousness and indifferences.

"But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." - Luke 14: 13-14

"Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him." - Proverbs 14: 31