Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020
Today I face a moral dilemma: To do the right thing or to just consider doing the right thing.
You’ve heard the 1930s depression stories and now the pandemic stories of the homeless. You’ve seen the dirty and tear-drenched children’s faces, and recognized the heartbreak. If you’re like me, you might have shaken your head sadly in a moment of shared humanity, then transferred to a happier show and thought about what to prepare for dinner.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-and-the-looming-eviction-crisis/
This morning a CBS Sunday Morning segment addressed 2020 homelessness, in particular, the plight of those who’re losing their rent-paying jobs. Ted Koppel spoke with several in impending need of safe housing. In these situations, they don’t just leave their TVs and beds. When they run out of rent, they lose their schools, private places to bathe or pee. They leave behind their books, family photos, emotional and physical security.
Today I contemplated a bit longer than usual as I sat in the living room of my 35-year-old, 48′-long trailer near the NC coast. My place of peace. My respite from others’expectations.
The trailer isn’t fancy but it’s comfortable, even has central heating. And let’s not forget the 2 little bathrooms, with indoor toilets and 19 gallons of blistering hot water. From inside my home-away-from-home, I look out onto sprawling, probably 100-YO live oaks and a copse of pines and bushes, filled with yellow warblers and scarlett cardinals in warmer months.
In other words, my little place would be like a resort to someone without a place to live.
And then it hit me. OMG, I could actually help someone, really make a difference in eliminating someone’s cold and sleepless nights. I could provide someone a temporary escape from misery while they looked for a job. All I would have to do would be to forgo my mini-vacations and stay in our nice home in Lumberton.
I glowed under my own halo. St. Mary.
And what about those other vacation homes up and down the coast? Many of them are empty much of the winter. Those people could step up, too.
Then my less-than-saintly self spoke up, “St. Mary, are you crazy?! This is your home, your getaway, your future retirement. It’s your freakin’ newly painted property!”
“Yes,” St. Mary replied gently, “but your proverbial neighbors need a place to live, to be safe. Think of their little ones. What if it were Bastion sleeping in that Honda 4-seater?”
Ohh, I thought and replied, “But it isn’t Bastion. I don’t know these people. What if they stain the carpet? Or break the TV? Or lose pieces of the puzzles? Would I have to pay their utilities? How could I even be sure they’d leave?”
Lots of puzzle pieces.
“Oh, Mary, Mary. You are better than this,” St. Mary said as she faded away.
But I don’t know that I am better than that. The idea of loaning my house to those in need sounds really good inside my head. When I let it out into reality, it sounds scary and costly.
Will I do the right thing or just expect others to do the right things?
I don’t know. I’m thinking that plain old, selfish Mary will win this one. Really, I hope no one is even interested so I wouldn’t have to make a decision.
Maybe I’ll just donate some money. Would that be enough, St. Mary?
Twists and Turns 
Money…or food…or clothes…or unused furniture and equipment. Or volunteer at a homeless shelter.
And then there’s this…you never know who or what you’re dealing with. You might be dealing with a family who just needs a helping hand for a little while. Or you might be dealing with someone who will take you for every nickel they can squeeze out of you. I have encountered both.
My point is, you cannot save everyone…you do what you can, where you are, with the physical and emotional resources that you have. You do what YOU can.
What you have done for your mother and father in recent years comes to mind. You didn’t have to do that…others in the same situation with the same resources might NOT have done it. There is where you have placed YOUR charity, St. Mary.
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Bernard, thank you. St. Mary is losing this argument, as I suspected she would. Despite that, I think it’s important to try to find practical ways to use our resources. Maybe something not so generous will come of this idea.
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