Today I had a chance to visit with Enola and Ned at their current digs. The good news is that they've landed someplace safe, with a friend. The not-so-much is that they're sleeping on the kitchen floor on a mattress, alongside the mattress of someone else who is in the same boat.
Their host, Santo, is a good guy. Intelligent. A good cook. And someone who knows how to practice hospitality toward people who are out in the cold. He says he's taken in 12 or 14 people over the years (evidenced by the surplus of mattresses he owns). Enola "just happened" to run into him at the foodbank on the day when they were "walking around." He offered them shelter for as long as they need it, making the complement of his small apartment five adults.
Santo and Enola play rock/paper/scissors to see who'll cook each evening, Ned washes the dishes. At the end of the day, the mattresses get pulled out of their spot leaning against the wall.
Today we sat in the homey kitchen, sharing our Tim's coffees, smelling the combined fragrances of Santo's risotto on the stove and the weed smoke from next door, and had a really good conversation.
About homelessness, the uselessness of government, mental illness, the fact that you can't vote if you're homeless because you're not associated with a riding.
And we talked about God. Or whatever. Santo says he believes in a higher power and the reality of karma--our actions and their consequences. Enola says she doesn't believe in any of it at all. I said, "Well, I work at a baptist church, so you probably know what I believe." They laughed, but Santo said, politely, that he didn't believe in all the Jesus stuff. Ned believes in luck, which he says is responsible for his meeting me outside the church that afternoon. I told him, "I don't believe in luck. I think you were in the right place at the right time for a reason." "Oh, yeah. Ok, whatever."
Maybe none of that seems strange to you, but I found it surprising. In much of my previous journey with people on the fringes, there has been an almost universal expression of connection with Christian faith. Prayer is good, Jesus is good, live right and you'll go to heaven and be reunited with friends, family, and pets.
This is the first time I've heard a solid rejection of "the God who sits in the sky and watches while you..." Fill in the blank yourself. This is a family blog.
that the universe is beginning to balance things out on their behalf.
But I'm going with Ned's assessment. "I don't believe in God. But maybe he's changing our luck. You never know."
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