No room at the inn

To the editor: Thank you, Nicholas Troiano, for your concern. The lady you tried to rescue made it through the night and found shelter for the following week. These were my thoughts as you were struggling with your own. As winter’s first snow storm finally arrived, many in Milford were quite concerned about the plight of those people who for a variety of reason had no place to go for shelter. In fact I have been positively impressed this year by people trying to help the less fortunate. Their efforts have included free motel rooms, rides to work, numerous free meals, late night transportation services, and one person even inviting a family to be with her family for Christmas Day. Some have spent long periods of time just listening to people who don’t always make sense and whose problems have no discernible solutions. The compassionate include politicians, police, government officials, business people, religious and non religious people, teenagers, nursery school students and now a young news reporter. I have also listened to many people point fingers and with concerned voices complain because “somebody should do something.” Those who have worked hard to respond eventually realize there is little anyone can do. There are no quick fixes that will make the problems or the troubled people “Go away”. It is one of our society’s great dilemmas. We have lived too long in sheltered worlds with the illusion that uncomfortable things shouldn’t exist or exist only because we have not done the “right thing” to eliminated them: the right law, the right amount of money, the right action. Those who have spent their available funds, suffered late night intrusions, spent hours trying to solve the problems, and lost more hours of sleep worrying about the homeless eventually must realize when they have done all they can do without becoming victims of those they would help. My faith tradition has a story about Jesus being anointed with expensive perfumed oil. (Mark 14:3-9) Some complained that the oil could have been sold and the money given to the poor. His response was that we will always have the poor with us. She anointed him before his violent torture and execution. Her action was to minister to another human being who was about to die. Our problems and problem people will never totally “Go away.” We will never resolve all of the world’s problems. However, each of us will have opportunities to help someone in need. It is crucial in our society that whenever we help that person or choose to not help that person we remember that we are dealing with a person. To treat one another with human dignity is something we all must do. We cannot dehumanize another to justify our limitations to taking action and resolve other people’s problems. David Repenning Milford