Sunday Afternoon

Through a series of sorta weird circumstances, I was able to attend a lunch meeting on Sunday - a sort of round table discussion of homeless issues here in Wichita. My thesis research took a look at the academic success of homeless children and levels of parental stress to see if there was any correlation between the two. Of course the sample was way too small to be able to test any sort of hypothesis, but my experience gathering the research at two family homeless shelters was eye-opening for me. At this informal luncheon, a local author read from her recently published book of interviews of chronically homeless persons she met through a local shelter. Proceeds from this book benefit this shelter.

So I drive my 16 year old car into an affluent, upper class, east side neighborhood and locate the house where the meeting is. I park my car and survey the property. I realize I'm not an appraiser, but I would not have been surprised if this house would be valued at 200-250,000K. I was already nervous about this meeting, and became even more so as I approached the front door. The irony of meeting at a quarter of a million dollar home to discuss situations of people who didn't even have a roof over their heads was present in my mind. However, that feeling quickly evaporated as the owner of the house met me with a welcoming smile and warm handshake at the front door. I was introduced all around and in about a minute, was comfortable. We had a finger food lunch, and then for a couple of hours, discussed these issues with openness and honesty. I was asked to present some key points from my thesis, and those present seemed genuinely interested. I walked away, touched and surprised by this meeting. Got in my old car, drove back to my old house, and pondered how I almost let my prejudices decline this invitation. I would have been the poorer for it, not financially, but in my spirit. There is a greater poverty than the lack of money.