Ronnie, the Carpenter
My Dear People,
Ronnie, the Carpenter. That's who I was on Thursday of last week.
Or that's who I tried to be, anyway, for the better part of a day; as I took part in "Walking in Their Shoes," an annual simulation, sponsored by Homeward, intended to give participants a sense of what it's like to be homeless in Richmond.
Ronnie is an unemployed carpenter and he has just brought his wife, who is pregnant, and their two small children into the city from Chesterfield County, where they are losing their home to foreclosure. Ronnie is white and his wife is African-American. Racist jibes at various job sites have repeatedly escalated into confrontations with co-workers, costing Ronnie one job after another. Since last fall Ronnie has been without work, and they have fallen far behind on mortgage payments.
Ronnie is not a real person, of course. His identity--his story--was created through an amalgamation of the all-too-real stories of people living in the streets and shelters of our city.
There are many things about the day that I won't soon, if ever, forget; that said, what impressed me most was the compassion that I encountered in those who are trying to help the most vulnerable members of our community.
I asked two social workers at the Social Services Department and one lawyer at Legal Aid why they do what they do, and if they find joy in what they do. Each of them answered in simple, warm, unaffected words: "Life happens," one of them said, "and sometimes people just need a little help." He continued, "Life has happened to me before."
The compassion and the joy were unmistakable, humbling, and moving.
+
To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to invite the stranger in: on Thursday, I met Jesus in those who were served, and in those who served.
It doesn't get any more straight-forward than that.
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
