A Little Love. [Homelessness in Toronto, part three]

Up to this point, we found that the people we've talked to were not there by choice. And really, I don't think anyone would want to be homeless...right? Well, let's see...

As we headed west on Queen Street, we saw a man huddled in his sleeping bag across from Nathan Phillips Square. As snow continued to fall, we sat down and asked him if he would like a bagged lunch. The man peeked slightly from his sleeping bag, and told us he was allergic to peanut butter, so we gave him a jam sandwich instead. The man, who didn't look older than in his thirties accepted the lunch and socks, and went back into his sleeping bag. Leaving, I noticed a water-logged and well worn book of the New Testament beside his few belongings, with the words 'Jesus Saves' on the cover. It saddened me to see such a young person out on the streets. It made me wonder what led him to his current situation?

 We decided to head into the heart of Queen Street West Village, an area that is notorious for being the fashion district, but also as a pretty funky sketchy area. Surely, we would find some people. We found a man, about his late twenties, reading a book, sitting beside his black Labrador retriever. He had a skateboard beside him, on which he had a cardboard sign attached. "Need $$$ for WEED."

We offered him a bagged lunch and socks, and he happily accepted it. As we talked to him, he explained to us that he really didn't care much about the outside life. Originally from the west, he used to snowboard, but now travels across the country and has stayed on the streets of Toronto for the past few years. He said most people would "finish school, get a job, get married, have kids and then die. pft." He doesn't see the point in that. He doesn't want to settle down, but wants to stay his current way, and maybe travel to the east in a bit. We wanted to talk about a greater purpose to life, and about God's love, but we weren't bold enough to. His friend came back a few minutes and joined us. He is originally from Nova Scotia but has also drifted around.  He too had a similar philosophy as his friend and did not see a point in settling down. He said this is what it's about. This is life, he says, and shows a tattoo that spells 'life'.  He hopes to head out west in a few days. As we said good bye, we realized maybe not everyone was there because they had to. Maybe, some are there by choice.

We decided to visit Rob again, as we wanted to give him a  second bagged lunch. Recognizing us, he greets us heartily and thanks us for the food. This time around, there was a heavy stench of booze lingering in his breath. We suspected he visited the LCBO in front of him. As we left, we heard his call to passerbys for spare change, and I know that once he has enough money, he will reward himself with a little bit of booze. It is said by the city report that 51% of the homeless require mental health and addiction services. Addiction can make it tricky for some to get back on their feet. I hope Rob will get back up someday....

We headed north on Spadina and saw a man standing in front of a Tim Hortons. From his appearance, you may mistaken him for Santa, with thick white beard and hair, except with a broken nose and scars all over his face. We walked over, but I couldn't help notice the businessman in front of us, walking by the homeless man, without taking a look at him, drops some change into his cup and walks into the Timmy's. Surely, he doesn't know giving a panhandler change isn't doing him any favours. It will only fuel his addictions. We greeted the man, and he was absolutely delighted by our bagged lunch. He said PBJ sandwiches are his FAVORITE! He thanked us for helping him, but then he leaned forward towards us, so close that we smelled the unmistakeable stench of booze from him, as he said, "you guys are CHI--NEESE!!!! CHINEESE! You people come from Chi-na, because there's too many of you, and you come here. You CHI-NEESE take over all our jobs. You hear me?" It came as close to a threat as it possibly could have been. He mumbled something else, but I did not catch it. Then, he went back to his previous self, and thanked us and shook our hands, thanking us for giving him a lunch.

We said good bye, and left rather quickly as we did not want to provoke anything. He was obviously affected by alcohol. By this time, it was almost 2pm, and I thought we would have been done by 12:30pm, and I was quite late for a reunion with my high school friends. So, with four bagged lunches left, we donated them to the Scott Missions, a local organization that serves the homeless people.

From this experience, I learned to realize not only how amazingly blessed we are, but what a little love would mean to these people. Taking the time out to just offer them things they physically need, like food and drinks, and socks, and chatting to them will hopefully build a trust between these people and ourselves, and to show some compassion, and God's love.

Again, it was a humbling experience, one that I hope I will continue to serve, and at the end of the day, it was only a small taste of what these people are going through. We can never fully imagine being in their shoes, but we can offer our love. Just a little bag of lunch and socks is worth so little to us in terms of money, but it goes a long way for them! We have so much to be thankful for, blessed with a roof on top of our heads, drinking water, 3 square meals a day, maybe 4, a bed we crawl into at night, and much more...much more!

After 11 km of walking, 13 bags of lunches, 7 different people, it was certainly eye-opening...

Toronto has over 30,000 homeless, mostly women, increasingly immigrants, and with 818 on the streets. Some people are there by choice, some people are not. Some are on the streets because they have mental illnesses or they've had domestic abuse, are jobless, have drug or alcohol addictions...Nevertheless, as Toronto becomes more upscale, the income gap continues to widen, and the rents skyrocket, making housing unaffordable, leaving many homeless.

I hate economics, yet it is useful: the rental market has something called a price floor, and it keeps increasing, while demand increases AND supply decreases, leaving many people without affordable housing.

But they are still people, and no matter who they are and what their backgrounds are, these people are our neighbours, and we can do even just little things that may make a big impact. What it means to "love your neighbour as yourself." There are many ways you can help, and if you don't think you would want to do something as hands-on as this, but would love to spread your love, there are many organizations you can donate to that do amazing work to help the homeless, like United Way, Scott Mission, Project 417, and countless others. Or you can make a difference by volunteering at community dinners or soup kitchens.

At the end, I can't say I've gained enough  insight into the reasons of why people are homeless and whether they are there by choice. Maybe I never will. What I've gone through in life cannot compare to what they've gone through, thus I cannot fully put myself in their shoes and I say, I get it. But what I realized is, everyone's story is different. There are so many factors and reasons that leads them to life on the streets, and we can never fully empathize with them because their pains and suffering  is being our comprehension. Only God understands, and because He loves us so, he took away the suffering we deserved for our sins and sent His son to die on the cross. Just goes to show you His amazing love. And because he first loved us, we spread that same love to others. (John 4:19) Loving others can mean doing little things like giving a lunch to the homeless, or volunteering for the food bank, or being a peer mentor.

Whether, they are there by choice or not, they still need our compassion and help.

We are truly blessed beyond our imaginations. Sometimes we take it for granted.  I know I sometimes do.

 But just a little love can go a long way!

God bless!

Abe :)

PS I know this is a LOTTA reading, but it IS reading week :P Thank you for reading until the end!