To the editor,
Last week, driving from the bank, my eyes landed on a huddled mass in a doorway on Bastion Street.
I believed a story was there. I approached the man who had stirred from his blanket on the ground. Then another sign of life – a woman. Tom and Mary (not their real names) were surviving on Nanaimo’s streets. Exchanging names I determined that neither were on drugs and appeared to live on a variety of junk food and pop. Giving them money, I asked that they feed themselves with real food. There are no guarantees, but one thing I could be sure of was that they both were in desperate need (he with a heart condition living on $280 a month, and she with no job skills).
We had a blizzard last week and I’m mindful of all the street people and their pets shivering in doorways or tucked into some temporary overnight shelter. Night goes, but not the cold.
So I ask myself and ask the reader what happens to people – once joyful and living with hope and expectation? Who pulled the plug on humanity’s consciousness? How can a society be benevolent to refugees from other countries when it turns a blind eye to its own sidewalks strewn with lost souls? If being politically correct means denying your own, count me out.
Moneca Graham, Nanaimo
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