Comforting the Disturbed may Disturb the Comfortable: Rethinking Poverty and Homelessness - by Joseph Friesen, Leamington EMMC

       I once read somewhere that being among the homeless will comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. After spending a week in Toronto participating in the TOOLS program, I couldn’t agree more- and being comforted yet disturbed were two things I needed.  On the one hand, spending a week among the homeless really brought to the surface the issues I already knew were happening in our cities, and made them personal. We see people on wheelchairs begging for quarters, or people our own age struggling to survive, yet we don’t internalize what’s really going on.

    Spending time with those who are poor lets it all sink in. Suddenly the beggar is that woman who was rejected by her parents as a teen. Now the oddly dressed person with the shopping cart is that person that is a few opportunities from finally breaking out of the cycle. When you get to know those who are marginalized and poor, or those who were in the past, their issues become personal and a call to action. In that way, the comfortable side of me was disturbed.  At the same time, volunteering and hanging out with some of these people, I saw a way of life that is often forgotten. For those who have little, material things matter less. The concern for them isn’t the new phone that’s coming out, but their friends around the bingo table. They understand that beneath our disguises of trendy clothes and faked emotions, we are all valuable, image-bearing humans, each loved by our creator. And that was a comfort to my over-complicated and disturbed soul.

~Joseph Friesen, August 2011 participant