Invisible Still?

As we approach the end of this election cycle and prepare to welcome a new city council, it is well to bear in mind that we will also be welcoming a new Mayor. On this occasion, I am reminded that a Mayor in the not so distant past used his inaugural address to announce his vision for the future of our houseless community and I am given to wonder if our new Mayor will address this most challenging issue as she takes office. That previous Mayor passionately exhorted his constituency to embrace that segment of the community that has been for far too long marginalized and ignored. Fine words spoken by a sincere and well intentioned civic leader but his vision now rings hollow in the gaze of history.

A vision is a fine and noble thing and can in great measure work for the social good, but no vision can be realized unless and until we truly see that which we envision. It is often said that the truth will set you free and I believe that it is equally true that the harsher the truth the more profoundly liberating the experience of freedom will be. In our city today, we are faced with the harshest truth of all: the truth that we refuse to see some members of our community as people simply because of their circumstances. And in that truth I speak of they are human beings who are as worthy of love and compassion and support as we all wish ourselves to be.

Until we accept this truth and truly see the unsheltered and less fortunate as people, we will be forever denied the vision of true community; and not denied just to the houseless community, but to us all.

Let us hope our new Mayor sees the truth in that.