I want to tell you a story that happened many years ago, as recently as today, and will happen again tomorrow. It is a story about a deceptively familiar place where securing the basic necessities of life, health care, housing, transportation, and communication requires persistence to overcome one obstacle after another.
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There is no doubt that a great deal of what passes for Quakerism today is highly discouraging. There are a few bright spots, but the general picture is far from satisfactory. The two alternatives for which we have been willing to settle are both bad, and there is no real hope except as we are willing to face the situation with candor. It is a time for plain speech.
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When I arrive in the surgery prep area, I find Julia, a black woman in her late 70s, sitting upright on her gurney, legs spread in front of her under a blanket, with a despondent look on her face. I greet her and confirm she’d requested a chaplain visit; she looks at me, nods, then stares away again.
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I was listed in the hospital database as the emergency contact for their mother. Early on in my time as director of an emergency drop-in shelter for women and children, I learned that many people become homeless because of a lack of resources, including a lack of family or social network. Without a support system, they not only have nowhere to turn for shelter, they also have no one who will go to appointments with them, no one in the waiting room when they receive hard news, no one to list as an emergency contact. So I’ve made sure that my guests at the shelter know they can always list me, that I’ll always sit in the waiting room with them, that I’ll always be there to drive them home when they are released, no matter what time of day or night. Little did I know that this could also mean becoming legal guardian of their children.
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