Last night E. didn't show up for Dinner, so T.B. went to look for her. She found her lying on her couch. She'd fallen in the shower and had been in pain ever since. So T.B. drove E. up to the local clinic. The doctor on duty poked E. in the ribs and said they might be cracked and she should go to the hospital in the morning. He asked whether she had a family doctor and she said, yes. But he's in a town an hour's drive north of here.
This is a real problem for a lot of people around here, not just the low-income, either. There's a shortage of family practitioners and the ones we have are over loaded and not taking any new patients.
So they all end up at the hospital, sitting in the Emergency room for 4 - 12 hours waiting to be told that yes, it's the flu, or no, it's not or, like E. last night, you have 4 cracked ribs. She was given some pain meds, which help.
Excursions like this one are made easier by having Dinner provided by one of our new groups of friends in town. This particular group, more than anyone else I'm aware of, has a history of involvement with people who live at the Motel. They're a charity organization based in a church and they provide resources for people who call and ask. They also will phone and visit people they've gotten to know.
We're really grateful for this break. It really takes the load off and lets the regulars relax. We can just show up for Dinner and get in line and chat and mix in.
One of the regulars was doing just that, hanging out in line with T. They were standing behind one of the new contributors, and, in B.L.'s words:
... (the lady) (fully intending to be generous and caring) told T. to go ahead of her in line... he said "Ladies first" and she replied "No, go ahead, I'm a worker here tonight." T. stopped... and said "pardon?" and she repeated "I'm a worker, you go ahead".
T. looked at her and said "... and I'm the impoverished one you've come to feed".
The lady looked shocked and replied "no, no, you're our guest here tonight!"...
T. rolled his eyes, and I just whispered to him "hey, it's all good... "
He said "I just hope it tastes good".
I was thankful it was T. (he was over it by the time we reached the end of the line)- and I hope the lady wasn't too offended- I'm sure it made her rethink how she'd approach things in the future- I mostly hope she wasn't scared off by the exchange.
Stories like this one reinforce for the regulars the fact that we've really built something here that defies definition. It doesn't fit the traditional pattern of those who have providing for those who don't.
The group that made Dinner last night, as I said, are a gracious bunch who genuinely care and show Christian love to people in need. But they do it in the context of the recognized relationship between the giver and the recipient. This is an unspoken thing, but it's something that we've all lived with for so long, that to find yourself unexpectedly in the middle of something more symbiotic is a bit of a paradigm shift.
It's something that we regulars are working on communicating with grace and love to people who are new to our context.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our new helpers, in front of C.L. called me an angel. B.L., who was standing there, joked that she was a princess and we all laughed.
The other night we were talking about this and T.B. said that, from the beginning, we'd chosen to be 'deliberately powerless'. That's what's created the atmosphere of friendship and that's what we need to communicate.
Tricky.
r
This is a real problem for a lot of people around here, not just the low-income, either. There's a shortage of family practitioners and the ones we have are over loaded and not taking any new patients.
So they all end up at the hospital, sitting in the Emergency room for 4 - 12 hours waiting to be told that yes, it's the flu, or no, it's not or, like E. last night, you have 4 cracked ribs. She was given some pain meds, which help.
Excursions like this one are made easier by having Dinner provided by one of our new groups of friends in town. This particular group, more than anyone else I'm aware of, has a history of involvement with people who live at the Motel. They're a charity organization based in a church and they provide resources for people who call and ask. They also will phone and visit people they've gotten to know.
We're really grateful for this break. It really takes the load off and lets the regulars relax. We can just show up for Dinner and get in line and chat and mix in.
One of the regulars was doing just that, hanging out in line with T. They were standing behind one of the new contributors, and, in B.L.'s words:
... (the lady) (fully intending to be generous and caring) told T. to go ahead of her in line... he said "Ladies first" and she replied "No, go ahead, I'm a worker here tonight." T. stopped... and said "pardon?" and she repeated "I'm a worker, you go ahead".
T. looked at her and said "... and I'm the impoverished one you've come to feed".
The lady looked shocked and replied "no, no, you're our guest here tonight!"...
T. rolled his eyes, and I just whispered to him "hey, it's all good... "
He said "I just hope it tastes good".
I was thankful it was T. (he was over it by the time we reached the end of the line)- and I hope the lady wasn't too offended- I'm sure it made her rethink how she'd approach things in the future- I mostly hope she wasn't scared off by the exchange.
Stories like this one reinforce for the regulars the fact that we've really built something here that defies definition. It doesn't fit the traditional pattern of those who have providing for those who don't.
The group that made Dinner last night, as I said, are a gracious bunch who genuinely care and show Christian love to people in need. But they do it in the context of the recognized relationship between the giver and the recipient. This is an unspoken thing, but it's something that we've all lived with for so long, that to find yourself unexpectedly in the middle of something more symbiotic is a bit of a paradigm shift.
It's something that we regulars are working on communicating with grace and love to people who are new to our context.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our new helpers, in front of C.L. called me an angel. B.L., who was standing there, joked that she was a princess and we all laughed.
The other night we were talking about this and T.B. said that, from the beginning, we'd chosen to be 'deliberately powerless'. That's what's created the atmosphere of friendship and that's what we need to communicate.
Tricky.
r
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