Winter. I love winter. I have always loved winter. The snow and cold, the blustery wind tearing around corners and sending chills through a slip of space in my scarf. I walk with joy in winter; I am often outside.
However, winter also chills my heart, because I know that men and women who call the streets home live in cold, dirty and mean surroundings. It brings a different kind of dread for the folks wrapped in layers of worn and tattered clothing.
There is nothing sweet or sentimental for them. There will be no Christmas morning with hot cocoa and a warm blanket wrapped around chilly feet.
Rockford struggles to resolve this suffering. There have been years of talking and searching for a solution, while the streets, bridges and garbage dumpsters remain the only harbor for many folks.
My mother always said, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Maybe Rockford lacks will and believes people earn their homelessness. I can tell you from daily experience that no one chooses living rough, being demeaned and belittled while staring through windows warm with the smells of good food and friendship.
Who would willingly chose aloneness and dread?
Winter comes, and I am both excited and sad all at the same time. What little I can do, I do. Still, in the deep Midwinter a human being lies curled tight under the bridge or in a dumpster in a forgotten stairwell waiting for Spring.
Oh Holy One, forgive us because today there is no room at this Inn.
I’m Lou Ness, and that’s my perspective.
