Visiting with our friend John is somewhat exhausting. There is so much wrong in the world—this
being a point on which we all agree—but when we get together, I wish that just
even once in a while, we could just leave the world and its troubles alone for
a brief moment and catch up on something more—uhm—shallow…(did I just say
that?) like my discovery of a great new Greek yogurt flavor, for example.
Whatever. Just a few less rants…that’s
all I ask.
No matter where we begin, it is not long before we find
ourselves immersed in a swamp of the world’s ineptitude, corruption, lack of
discipline, and become privy to his general disgust for a variety of
institutions large and small—beginning and ending always with the government
and incorporating a heavy dose of the word “disaster”. I leave these gatherings tired. These issues are so much bigger than we are. We
each throw our own tiny pebbles of good into the ocean of need and hope that a ripple
will form but soon walk away as the water envelopes our futile fragments, not
even so much as forming a dent in the vast expanse. John’s passion is palpable and exhausting.
But far from exhausting John, I recently learned that it
moved him to quiet and courageous action. A flawed world filled with suffering
people. What to do? Well, a few weeks
ago, John knew what to do. Late one
evening I received a text from John’s wife that simply said something like, “John
has gone downtown tonight to save his bridge people from freezing to death
(literally). He doesn't think they will make it in this cold.” I punched into my phone the city where John
lives and was shocked to see that this normally balmy city’s temperature had
plummeted to a frigid 20 degrees.
Mind you, as his wife so succinctly said, these were John’s people. His passion for the
injustices of the world indeed did not burn itself out in talk but rather
ignited in him a desire to plumb the depths of human suffering with the
homeless and nearly-homeless population in his own metropolitan area. That night, he left his own warm home and
drove downtown, filled his vehicle with his homeless friends and found them a
warm place to sleep that night. He has helped them learn employment and other
life skills. He has bought them bicycles. He has even helped them with their
laundry. He has shown a remarkable amount of courage, integrity, and compassion.
He is fearless. Talk on, dear John. The
floor is yours.
