july just posts

I had a whole other topic to write about this month and believe it or not it was about something other than homelessness. But then I saw something yesterday at the shelter and I can't stop thinking about it. I had headed outside to get a coke from the roach coach. The only other customer was an elderly client, a guy who has a few physical ailments. I am not sure what is wrong but he doesn't hear very well and shakes quite a bit and is rather frail. As I got my coke his order came up. Burger and fries. He said he'd been looking forward to this burger all week and offered me a fry. I took him up on it and he called me a pretty young lady and I admired his shirt.

I walked back over to the door and stopped to sit outside and make a call. I saw the old man sitting on a curb a ways away. He's hunched over that curb carefully eating his burger, alone in the sun and for a second my heart cracked a bit at his smallness. A couple of men walked out of the shelter, men I didn't recognize. One of them threw something at the old man and hit him in the head. He dropped his burger on the ground and looked up and then quickly down. I started to rise up and head over, angry. I was so angry. As I stood up another man ran over and started yelling and hauled off and hit the one who had hit the old man in the face and a fight broke out quickly and was quickly dispensed. While I never condone violence I loved that man in that moment for standing up for someone who could not.

I reach the old man, his burger all over the ground. I sat down to help him and he looked at me and asked what justice is this? with the weariest look I have ever seen. And I was at a loss for words at his homelessness and his lonely meal and his food on the ground and I thought of all of our writing and our appeals for social justice and I wanted to lie on the ground and weep because the futility was overwhelming. But then he leaned over and said I can still eat this, it's not that dirty so don't you worry. And that too made me want to cry and it also made me want to try even harder and do a little bit more for him and for the rest of us because it's up to us to bring kindness and hope and justice to our worlds as much as possible every single day.

So thank you for writing and for caring and for being just in this world.

The Good Writers
BlogHers Act Canada
BlogHers Act
Alejna at Collecting Tokens with Big Fears and Small Hopeful Faces
Cecileaux with Why Don't We Solve Problems? and Street Cents and Uncommon Sense
Chani at Thailand Gal with Something else, No More TV!, Parallel, Acceptable Prejudice, This
isn't about immigration and it certainly isn't about Thailand
Crazymumma with How We Live...
Dana at Principled Discovery with Brand loyalty in the absence of television
Ellie Bee at What Now? with Mommy Guilt
Jen at One Plus Two with To whom it concerns, norma dies, fresh off the lot, and rowing the boat
Jenny and Kevin at Life has taught us with C3: Carbon Conscious Consumer
Julie at the Ravin' Picture Maven with The Law of Natural and Logical Consequences, aka Karma and Is the Internet the Rainbow Connection?
KC at Where's My Cape with An Illness Narrative on Independence Day
Leah at LeahPeah with Mental Health Revolution Health
Maddie at My Little India with Making the World More Personal
Mouse at the Mouse's Nest with Global Warming Wednesday: Strength in Numbers
Pundit Mom with What Kind of President Do We Want?
Sage with Sage goes green
sagefemme at Mommy Blogs Toronto with Incens(ationalized) and One of a Million
Snoskred with Snoskred made 5 Million Dollars online
Stephanie at Speaking Life with Hardship
Susanne at Creative Mother Thinking with Children and Responsibility
Urban Urchin with Mom vs Mom

The Kind Readers
Alejna
Carrie
Chani
Hel
Jen
Jennifer from Faking It
Julie
KC
Kiki
Lawyer Mama
Liv
Mad
Susanne

It's a lovely roundtable considering it's in the middle of summer. Thank you for sitting at our table this month. No burgers on the ground here, not a single one. Mad's back in the just post house and has something going on at her end of the table too so check it out before you go.