I Have Heard (Reprise)

This isn't the poem that opened this blog many months ago. It's the speech I made to the Lakewood Township Committee on behalf of Tent City, which is now in the final stages of being dismantled. The title comes from hoping THEY are the ones who heard.

Over the course of the past year, as I became involved in Tent City, Lakewood has become sort of a second home to me. For as they say, "home is where the heart is..." But I grew up only a few towns over from here. And there are some very noteworthy things about Lakewood. 

The first is a true sense of community – the “unity” being the biggest part of that. The second is the sense of identity and culture: the glue that binds the community together. Also admirable is the value placed upon knowledge, and the value placed upon family. 

But I’d like you to imagine, if you will, what you would do if you had to live without all that. If for whatever reason, you found yourself cast out, ostracized, and disconnected. Whether it happened as the result of a choice you made, or because of circumstances beyond your control. Or perhaps others’ perception that you were no longer worthy to be a part of your family, your neighborhood, or your society. 

If you have not, then you are among the rare and highly fortunate few. But again, try for just a moment to imagine your life without the people and things that define you. How painful and isolating that must be. 

No matter our background, culture, or beliefs, I believe our common thread as human beings is our need to connect to one another. To have a sense of belonging, and a sense of community. 

Those of us who support the homeless, were somehow able to reach beyond our own comfort zones and connect with people who have little. And by doing so, we ourselves have been blessed in so many ways. Most of all realizing that even though we’re coming from many different directions, races, creeds, and situations, we’re not that different at all. 

The notions of “home” and “neighbor” are so much more than just having a roof over one’s head. That is why watching Tent City, a community of the disenfranchised, being scattered to the four winds, rends my heart on a profound level. 

Because I believe every person in this room has, at some point in their lives, felt a sense of loneliness so powerful that it rocks the foundation of who we are. It makes us question and doubt ourselves and our very identity. After spending a good deal of time with the residents, I know that is what the people of Tent City are feeling right now. 

That is why I call upon every person here to look deeply into your hearts, find it within yourselves step outside your respective comfort zones. And after you look deeply into your own hearts, raise your eyes, and without fear or reservation, look into the hearts of others. 

I call upon you to think not of the past, but the future. And whether you will help us build upon the lessons of Tent City, and work with us build something better. More sustainable. More comprehensive. A community of individuals that, like Tent City strove to be, regardless of their differences, turned into a neighborhood. And a community that you can proudly say are YOUR neighbors. 

I believe it can be done, and that it SHOULD be done. 

Thank you.