I was introduced to Blog Action Day this year because I work for Mobile Loaves & Fishes...a non-profit agency that serves the homeless, the hungry, and the indigent working poor....i.e. those living in poverty. We teamed up with bloggers throughout the city of Austin to "change the conversation" about poverty.
A handful of people from our staff and volunteers volunteered to spend 24 hours on the streets (starting last night at 5pm and running through tonight at 5pm) to show you the face of poverty and to provide a first hand, intimate account of how it feels to live in poverty. Our eMarketing Coordinator, Rachel, is a gifted writer and I've highly enjoyed keeping up with her "street retreat" experiences today. Check out the MLF effort on our Blog Action Day 2008 page. From there you can link to the MLF blog.
I don't often use Leigh Leigh Land to preach, but today it can't be helped as I stand in solidarity with fellow bloggers on this Blog Action Day. So, I'd like to introduce you to one of the many faces of poverty that I have come to know.
I know the face of Linda. She stands on the corner of Mopac and Barton Skyway each morning panhandling so that she can raise the $49 a day to stay in the seediest nightly rate motel you've ever seen.
Every time I see Linda I roll down my window to wave and say hi. She smiles. Her demeanor immediately changes from one of isolation and despair to one of happiness and love...if only for that brief moment. She typically replies with something like, "have a great day beautiful!" Amazing, isn't it?!?! That a complete stranger (although I do know Linda through my work at MLF) can tell me what will probably be the nicest thing anyone will tell me all day. A homeless woman. A woman who has lost all hope, identity, and self-respect tells me that I'm beautiful and wishes me a happy day. I'm baffled by it.
My work at Mobile Loaves & Fishes has changed the way I look at and treat the face of poverty. I now know that there are actually people behind these faces. Yes they are often broken people, but they are indeed people and deserve to be treated as such.
Most of us have passed by hundreds if not thousands of homeless people in our lives without so much as acknowledging their existence. I know I have. I'm often asked...."what am I supposed to do, give them money every time." I have no answer to that. I say give when you want, if you want....don't if you don't. But, I do think there is something that we all could, make that should do....acknowledge them.
So, on this Blog Action Day where bloggers around the world write about the issue of poverty I issue a challenge to all my fellow friends of Leigh Leigh Land.
The next time you see someone on the street corner I ask you to simply look them in the eye and smile. Maybe throw in a wave if you feel so inclined. That's all I ask....this very simple act of sheer acknowledgment.
Just a smile, just a wave, just that eye contact will change them....and even more important it WILL change YOU!
2 comments:
Love the new format and love Blog Action Day! I highly recommend reading about Rachel's adventures on the street on the MLF Blog. It makes me very thankful that I have a roof over my head while she is out on the streets in the pooring rain.
Great blog today. Nice new format. Your not usually one for much change....interesting. This weather is so damn great. Keep bloggin' and I'll keep readin'....
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