At the beginning of November the warming centre opened for the winter season. A good thing really; the frost is hanging in the air longer every day as winter sets in. By the time this centre opens in the morning, the folks who will be using it will have been roused and ousted from the mats or cots they slept on for the night. It is a busy time and everyone is in a rush to be the first to use the facilities, get dressed and ready for the day; there has been no extra time between sleep and getting out the door and into the still dark and frosty morning to go for breakfast.
Breakfast at Potters lasts an hour-and-a-half, and then it’s back on the street, so now in November, it’s a trek from downtown back to the warming centre. Once there, they may be able to set their backpacks down for a while, but there really is no rest as the most of us would have it.
You see, in our homes, we have gotten out of a nice warm bed, loitered in a warm housecoat, had a leisurely coffee before some breakfast and a nice warm shower; then we go and face the frosty morning outside.
Many are the folks who have blatantly stated ”well, it’s all in the choices we make whether we have a nice warm home or not.” All that shows is about the same amount of compassion as stepping on a spider, and about the same amount of consideration. I have to admit, that sometimes I feel that way as well. Although it is a matter of choice, many are the times I have written about how, why and under what conditions people make choices for their futures. Let me give you two examples.
A young fellow grew up under the overly harsh rule of an abusive father. In order to comply with his excessive demands, he would hide most of his own desires, especially the desire and need for affection and approvals. To this day, whenever he speaks of his father, he almost does so in a sense of fear and total rejection.
Today this man, now in his 50s, is so scared of making a mistake, that he is hardly able to accomplish anything; so he doesn’t, and probably feels that he can’t be criticized for what he hasn’t attempted.
Or the young girl who by the age of 13 aborted her grandfather’s baby. Even today, 15 years later, she still feels so dirty, worthless and guilty that she does not feel that she could hold her head up in a regular society but the street is accepting, so that is where she stays. This then is her comfortable ‘normal’.
These two stories are fairly representative of many on the street, but then there are also those who not being taught the need for a work ethic, easily fell into a do nothing but hangout type of lifestyle which of course led to association with the street. If not involved in the drug scene before, the street is an ugly introduction. Then with drugs in the system, those that used to cower under harsh or abusive rule, suddenly find that they have a lot of strength and ability to strike back, and they do so by striking back at the very society that they really want to embrace.
For those folks who constantly work with these people and those in society who really care, we really would like nothing better for them that they also would be able to awake in safe freedom to spend a few moments in a ‘warm house coat on a frosty morning’.
Chris Salomons is the kitchen co-ordinator of Potter’s Hands in Red Deer.