Our Way In The Cold
On my way to work this week, I was thinking about the dismantling of encampments here in Edmonton. It was snowing that morning, and finally, after a very mild winter, the river valley was now covered in a fresh white blanket of snow. With the lives of those living in the camps fresh in my mind, the pleasant sight of the snow wasn't nearly as comforting as usual. By the end of the week, the Edmonton winter forecast says we will likely experience -40 ° Celsius. I can manage the cold because I have an insulated home and a working car that gets me to a safe work environment. These same conditions bring the threat of death for those who lack those three elements. While I enjoy the beautiful hoarfrost on trees along the North Saskatchewan River, I know the cold is deadly to those exposed to the elements.
There's a great deal of sadness, anger, and grief with the challenges around our more vulnerable neighbors here in the city. I feel sad, even just writing out the word neighbors. The word neighbor implies a relationship of acceptance and coexistence. The forced evacuation of these sites has proven that we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can say Edmonton is a neighborly city.
How did we get to this point?
Who do we blame for this?
Who is responsible for allowing death to stroll through the city, claiming human lives years before their time?
There are a lot of options to choose from. Do we blame the municipal, provincial, and federal governments? All of the above are easy-to-blame targets. Others have also taken the opportunity to assign guilt to the police and accuse them of having no heart for the people who live on the streets—perhaps another easy target.
Scapegoats give society a way to unload the anger, guilt, and shame that we carry. We use the scapegoats and then move on feeling like we've done some good for the world. And yet, the problems persist, and those needing our support are left in the cold. The uncomfortable truth is that if we were to investigate the challenges around those without a house, we’d probably discover our own fingerprints. It’s unfair to declare a guilty verdict over one single party.
I am hopeful though,
The more I read and watch stories on the news, the more I see that there is more humility out there than before. More of us admit that we feel powerless and want to move beyond blaming one another. More of us are beginning to understand that this is the only way forward for our city. Until we all adopt a personal policy of hospitality and generosity - public policy will remain anemic. There is a lot of scapegoating and political gamesmanship taking place right now, but more often than not, I see a growing collective admission of accountability. I know in my heart that humility opens the door to redemption. I believe in personal redemption, but I'm hopeful for the redemption of our community as a whole.
I hope that more of us in Edmonton will seek to learn, understand, and take responsibility.
Impossible problems don't get along with hope.
"Hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretensions of the present, daring that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question."- Walter Brueggemann
Many of us are beginning to understand. It doesn't need to be this way. Scapegoats don't work; humility and service do. We can put words into action.
"Will you lean in? Will you ask questions to learn what went wrong? Will you apologize and offer restitution? Will you extend yourself grace? Will you see this as an opportunity to deepen the relationship, to choose to become vulnerable and dependent? It's not what you do, but what you do next that will be important." -Tom Lin (Uncommon Ground 2020 Thomas Nelson)
There's a lot of work to do. I'm willing to do the work, and I hope you are, too. The good news is that many great organizations are already doing significant work to help bring healing to our city; my encouragement to you today would be to look at financially supporting one of them. My family and I support organizations like Bent Arrow traditional healing society. Giving is a very practical way of adding weight and significance to our words.
Thank you for reading, friend; it means a lot. May you find an opportunity to light fires of warmth and support this week.