commitment

July 7, 2009
Thanks for visiting the site, you really don't know how much it means to me. Now that my money is gone, someone (with only my best interests at heart) has tried to convince me to end my journey. Go home, go back to a job that was killing me slowly and lead a sensible life. The temptation is certainly there, but call it instinct, or insanity, I just know that seeing this through I'll write my book and find the home (and job) I seek. And ultimately I will improve the homeless situation in Canada, if only by helping the civilian population to have a more realistic view of the homeless and their daily struggles. One of the gentlemen I worked with at SunAlta asked the question, "What if you find out that the homeless are all a bunch of lazy bums who don't deserve any help? and there is a backlash from your book." I told him I can only tell the truth... the truth will always lead to the right result. If my findings lead to bed closures then that is what is the right result. I am a huge believer in the value of truth. What I call living authentically. Being true to our spirit and our words keeps on the path to our destiny. This is where we meet the people we are meant to teach and/or are meant to teach us. This is where we find the lessons that enrich and enlighten us. For the next two years this is my path I don't know where it will lead, I only know that it will take me where I am meant to be.
Since my Louis Leaky reference is lost on most people I have started to explain my motivation like this. Think of homelessness as if it was a house (ironic I know) in the middle of a block. Many people pass by without much noticing it is there, others notice but don't give it much thought. As social workers we are looking in through the windows, some of us are happy with one perspective; others care enough to walk around the outside of the house peering in every window, to get every possible vantage point. Even then there are hidden corners, views obscured by angles, and sounds muted by the window glass. The only way to get a true picture is to go inside the house and walk around, spend some time and look at it from every angle in every room. I have no idea what I will find looking at this situation from the inside. But I know it is time someone took a serious, unbiased, and intimate look at homelessness in Canada...and I guess that would be me.