THREE DAYS IN NOVEMBER
What
you are about to read is a small expression of
the feelings, perspectives and experiences that I had
during the three days in November 1989 that I was
'homeless by choice' and stayed on streets of Lexington
Kentucky.There is a short version and a long version to
this story. I will give the short version first: "It
was one of the most horrible experience of my life.”
In retrospect, I think I was unprepared and idealistic. I
had thought that almost 10 years of working among
homeless people had enabled me to understand the people
and the issues. But I was wrong. I was so wrong.
Here
is the long version:
It is
amazing how the same city of Lexington Kentucky looks so
different to me now. I used to think of Lexington as such
a clean and beautiful city. While it may be clean and
beautiful to those who have money, it remains ugly and
frightening to those who have little or nothing. I took
no money and I did not have identification with me when I
left that cold early Friday morning in November. I did
not shower the morning of my first day. I wanted my hair
to appear messed up. During the three day period, I did
not change 
clothing. I later
discovered that few of the homeless I met have the
privilege of changing clothing more then once or twice a
week. I slept in the same clothing only taking my shoes
off to go to sleep. I wore a pair of work pants, two
pairs of socks, shoes with holes in them, a T shirt,
thermal shirt and a very old sweater. I had an old coat
with a hood , a blue hat and a pair of work gloves. At no
time did any homeless person give me the slightest
impression that they thought I was different from them. I
believe I was able to fit in. I had hoped to find free
clothing but information about this was not brought to my
attention. I came to understand that social services and
programs for those on the streets were, in this case,
something the homeless had to seek out and ask for. Never
once was there and announcement of information provided
to me about any programs or opportunities available to
help us. I received no information on showers or clothing
resources. All information about resources came through
my fellow street companions. I believe however, that if I
would have sought out information, I could have learned
about what was available to me.
I was
dropped off by a friend from Asbury Seminary about 8:00
a.m. into the downtown area of the city. Although I had
been in the Lexington area for a few months, I purposely
had not gone down to seek any information on services
available to homeless people. I wanted to find out for
myself. Wilmore, the host city to Asbury Seminary is
about 20 minutes outside of Lexington. I was there on
sabbatical from my work as the Executive Director of a
rural shelter for the homeless (Good Works) for about 3
months. My objectives were these:
1) After working with homeless people from the point of
view of a counselor and an administrator for the past 9
years, I felt I needed to see them from the point of view
of an equal; one who ‘comes along side.’ In a
real sense, I felt that I had to have this experience as
a kind of "rite-of-passage" to further bear
fruit and make progress in the work I am doing with Good
Works Inc. in Athens Ohio.
2) I wanted to try to understand how the homeless see
themselves, their problems and the solutions to their
situation. I had my own opinions of how I and the
"professionals" saw their plight, but I wanted
to try to understand how they see themselves and the help
that others are providing for them. I also wanted to see
how they saw the way out.
3) Because Jesus incarnated himself into the culture of
man that he might identify with us in order to
communicate the message of God's love, I wanted to
incarnate myself into the culture of the homeless in
order to learn how I might better minister to and care
for them. I feel that the power and impact of my own
ministry with hurting people is proportional to my
understanding their suffering while suffering with them.
4) While I knew that I could never actually become
"homeless" as they were, I believed that I
could taste something of their world, possibly enough to
give me the guidance I needed to "bind up their
brokenness".
