What it Takes

What it takes to be the father (or mother) of a homeless community.

It takes a willingness to wake up at all hours of the night and answer the call because someone is hungry and needs to eat now. It takes the devotion to answer the door because someone has literally shit their pants and needs to get cleaned up and changed now. It takes the fortitude to treat the sick who are afflicted with a nauseating abscess. It takes Love.

It takes the patience to accept being lied to in a calculating manner by someone who is selfish and manipulative as hell, and still loving them. It takes far more patience than you will be afforded. It takes far more patience than you thought you had. You have it, just be patient and you'll see. It takes the courage to tell the truth especially when you’d rather not. It takes the humility to say, “I don’t know the answer.” It takes the dogged determination to find out. It takes the judgment to tell the difference between an important task and a fool’s errand. It takes Love.

It takes the ability to put whatever you're doing aside because someone has hit rock bottom, even if you know they haven’t seen anything that solid. It takes the certitude that God does not create garbage even if they are dressed and smell the part. It takes the ability to ascertain someones physical, mental, spiritual, and chemical disposition at a glance. It takes the ability to care more about someone than they care about themselves. It takes Love.

It takes a lot of time.  It takes a lot longer than you planned. It takes a lot longer than that. Way longer still. This is not an hourly employees position. It's a vocation and it pays in the end. You'll see, just be patient. It takes responding at a moments notice. It takes the ability to make definite plans with someone who will not show up even though you will. It takes a firm hand with a gentle touch. It takes respect for the disrespectful, trust in the untrustworthy, and hope for the hopeless. It takes the serenity to watch the same mistakes being made over and over again and trying to get them to see those mistakes over and over again. Maybe they will. Probably not, but we don't give up because they are not hopeless if were the one hoping for them. It takes care without ulterior motives or an agenda. It takes the ability to connect with someone others wouldn’t dare approach. It takes an open heart and an open wallet because in the final accounting you’re on your own. It takes Love.

It takes a deep respect for humanity and an even deeper respect for the human being. It takes listening to a lot of very smart, very respectable, and very well off people telling you that you’re wasting your time, and then ignoring them because you still know they’re wrong. It takes the rare quality to see quality where others only count quantity. It takes a definitive knowledge of where your job ends and God’s job begins, and always respecting that line. It takes Love.

It takes a significant number of cigarettes numbering in the tens of thousands. It takes great risk to your emotional well being. It takes the perseverance to bury a child and then move on because the others need your care. It takes lots of Love.

It takes a certain (particular) and certain (assured) form of mental illness we call PARENTHOOD. It takes Love. That is what it takes to be the father (or mother) , of a homeless community, which is exactly the same skill set it takes to be a parent. The difference is one you choose and the other… chooses you, and the success ratio is a hell of a lot thinner.

The unqualified need not apply.

The one and only benefit you can count on is when you arrive at the gates of Heaven you need only say, "It's me" and they will open. They will open.

My Response to Their Response

The King County Executive, Mayor, community leaders announce unified homelessness response...

(If you enjoy yawning, watch the video. If you're interested in the truth skip to my response below.)

Stop treating homelessness as if it were a normal condition. As if,homelessness on an epidemic scale has always been a fact of life like death and taxes and there is nothing we can do about it except manage the symptoms. If worldwide homelessness were a disease it would be on scale with HIV, or malaria, or syphilis infections. In the United States alone, the self-proclaimed richest country on Earth, homelessness has spread to as many people as Hepatitis B worldwide. Here, in our very own King County, homelessness afflicts 20% more lives than those claimed by schistosomiasis globally each year. 

Full Stop! 

Here are the truly alarming statistics: 

Homelessness is nearly 100% Preventable and Curable. 
However, when treated as merely treatable, it spreads.

Here is the regrettable truth about our condition, Dow... 

We like to talk a lot about doing something about homelessness because we must appear socially conscious. We blather on about the corrosive effects of homelessness on children, women, veterans, and the mentally challenged. We collect and collate data. We attend symposiums. We design graphs and charts to illuminate the statistics. We write and publish papers in psychology, sociology, and social issues journals. We accumulate continuing education units in classes on how to identify and treat the symptoms of homelessness. Some even go so far as to post their new approaches to homelessness on social media. 

However, when it comes to actually doing something to eradicate homelessness rather than just treating the symptoms... *Insert the sounds of crickets chirping here* 

Why? 

Well, Dow, you and I know that the only way to really end homelessness is… homes. The title of our disease contains the cure. It’s not really hidden either. It’s the first four letters of the pathogens name. But home is a four letter word for people like you because the more you build, the more property values drop. The more property values drop the faster those voters with property will throw you out of office for destroying their huge over inflated real estate investment bubble they call HOME. That four letter word that stuffed with urban sprawl land restrictions, green spaces, habitat and forest protection, sustainability strategies, public spaces, and draconian zoning restrictions coupled with exclusionary property taxes to pay for it all! 

FOUR LETTER WORD, Dow. Four letter word. 

Anything else is more HOMEless.