Tugging on her own scarf with quiet desperation, a woman in her early-thirties tilts her chin low and casts her eyes lower. January wind pushes against her back, pushes her to run—not from the cold. She runs from the man. She runs from his eyes.
I watch her with a shameful conscious. I watch as she points her toes away from him and picks up her pace. I watch as they all point their toes away from the man in the rags.
I don’t blame them. I can’t help him either.
What can we do? We have places to be. Errands to run.
We have no cash on us right now!
We’re in no position to give away what little cash we have for ourselves!
What can we do? What can we do?
We can run.
We run because we loathe ourselves.
We loathe ourselves because we’re full of excuses.
We know, deep down, if we really wanted to help, if we were really willing to give up some of our time, it could be more than possible. It could be achievable. Hell, it could even be impactful.
Homelessness is an issue we can’t run from. We see it on our way to work. We see it on our way to lunch. We see it in the streets of our own beloved city and we choose to cast our eyes away, saying, see what? I don’t see anything. I don’t see anything I can do.
Except, I don’t think casting our eyes away is something we should be ashamed of. I think it means we care, but we don’t know how to help. I think, if anything, we should be ashamed of striding confidently by, fully aware yet bursting with indifference. I think the very act of turning our heads is a hopeful sign that with the right education, more activists will emerge.
Cathy Crowe, Toronto’s very own street nurse, tackles homelessness from all directions. One highly impactful method, is through informing the public. She sheds light on shelter conditions the media ignores and draws attention to the faulty assumptions tied to homelessness. She turns the volume of every voice lost at the hands of a negligent system up loud, and she wants you to help turn it louder—because an advocate for change is much more beneficial to the man in the rags than a five dollar bill.
This article published in The Star in October 2015 illustrates just how relevant of an issue homelessness in Toronto is.
“Homelessness is worse and the advocacy is very weak. It’s not being taught in school and activists are getting old. It’s a shame we have to fight for basic human rights.” –Crowe last Thursday
It is a shame, and the fight isn’t easy, but with our efforts it is a fight that can be won. In an excerpt from Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis, Jack Layton ends a recount of a homeless man’s death with:
“Bureaucrats quickly rolled out statistics for the night Eugene Upper died, suggesting that there were a few beds in the 4,000-bed system that had not been taken. This posture allowed some commentators on talk shows to suggest that these deaths could not be prevented. After all, they argued, there were beds available and yet Eugene Upper had chosen to stay outside. He had made a conscious decision.
Society had provided an alternative to death, but Eugene had chosen his own destiny. The victim had to be blamed. The homelessness debate had begun.”
Via Globe and Mail
Will you fight for this basic right?
“On Tuesday, about 50 demonstrators marched from the Chinatown Centre to city hall chanting “save Chinatown!” and holding placards saying “No YSM,” the acronym for Yonge Street Mission, a long-established social service agency that plans to relocate its growing youth day programs to a site on Spadina Avenue next year.”
Via The Star
Will you join the ongoing debate?
You would be surprised by how much your voice can make an impact.
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