Ponderings

            Frances Moore Lappé, author of the best-selling Diet for a Small Planet, has an insightful article on happiness in the Winter, 2009, issue of Yes! Magazine. She reflects on the question, “What makes people happy?”, and observes that the usual answers given (after basic physical needs are covered) are “[f]riendships, family, self-acceptance, and meaning.” But Ms. Lappé contends that one other factor is being overlooked: and that is a feeling of personal power.

            Ms. Lappé acknowledges that many people are uncomfortable with the notion of power—that’s probably why they ignore it in their analysis of the elements of happiness. “Power” is a quality often linked in the popular mind to a vice like “greed.” Mention power, and many immediately associate it with instances of its abuse. They think of tyrants; they remember quotes like Lord Acton’s, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

            But Ms. Lappé wants to get back to the roots of power’s real meaning. From the Latin, “power” literally means, “to be able.” “Suddenly,” she writes, “the word’s hard edge dissolves; power simply means efficacy—our capacity, as philosopher Erich Fromm put it, to ‘make a dent.’”

            To understand power in this way is to recognize that if we are to nurture other people’s happiness, simply providing them with food, clothing, and shelter is not enough. Neither for that matter is establishing a friendship or relationship with them enough. Instilling in them a religion or a philosophy of life is not even enough. We must figure out a way to instill in them a sense of personal empowerment. “Because most human beings are not couch potatoes and whiners,” Frances Moore Lappé writes. “We are doers and creators. In fact, the human need to ‘make a dent’ is so great that Fromm argued we should toss out René Descartes’ ‘I think therefore I am’ and replace it with ‘I am, because I effect.’”

            Central to Nightwatch is the orientation that the homeless need much more than merely a roof over their heads. They need connection. So we provide a place where human connection can be made, and we do what we can too to connect them to a sense of meaning through our worship services and Bible studies.

            But what about the element of empowerment? What can we do to develop opportunities to help our guests grow and claim a sense of personal power so they can feel they themselves are “making a dent” in this world that we share?

            Please comment, especially if you have any ideas or suggestions.     

I've subtitled this blog, "Thoughts about home (and about those who lack one)," because I believe homelessness is an issue of many dimensions--raising the prospect of many more needs--than most people recognize.

Consider, for instance, what most people think is the primary need of the homeless. Shelter, right? The city of Portland's 10-year-plan to "end homelessness," after all, focuses on simply getting people currently on the streets into some sort of housing.

But the terms we use should themselves point to an issue of much more profound nature. We speak of folks being "homeless," not merely "houseless." Thus, merely putting a roof over people's heads is not likely to address the full problem.

A home is far much more than simply a house. Images of "home" are of a place where one can feel so secure and to be most fully and freely himself/herself. A home is the place where one can plant roots, where one can gain a greater shape to his/own identity while making a mark on shaping the identity of the community around him/her. In short, a house is just a building; whereas a home, in contrast, is a place that nurtures connection with those similarly rooted around him/her, and ultimately, with all the jagged parts of him/herself.

Homelessness has existential dimensions far beyond the mere physical ones. This has become evident through conversations I've had with with formerly "homeless" who have had housing recently secured for them through the effort to "end homelessness." Because of property values, the apartments located for them have been on the far east side of the city--almost out to Gresham. When I ask them how they're now doing, they expressed the fact that they are still unsettled (an interesting term, given the fact they no longer have to wander the streets!). The housing is so far away from their familiar surroundings and their friends that they are disoriented and lonely. "I just sit around and watch TV all day," one fellow observed  with a glum sigh. I would contend that though these people now have an address, they are still "homeless."

So what can we do to work toward overcoming genuine homelessness in all its dimensions? That's what I intend to focus on in this blog.

I would enjoy receiving any reaction, feedback, or suggestions.