More Than a Transcript Grade

Ok, here is a bit of substance to go along with that random interjection from earlier... (Caution, the rest is long.) Written for my Intro to Sociology class.

More Than a Transcript Grade

“How can we worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore on Monday?” In his book, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, Shane Claiborne describes a true life event that forever changed his life and those of the people involved^[1]. The quote from above is painted on a banner that someone had hung over the entrance, and is the first thing that greets Claiborne and a few of his friends when they meet this group. The setting is that a group of homeless people have begun to squat inside of an old vacant cathedral in Northern Philadelphia. After Shane and a few of his friends stumble onto this makeshift community, they learn that the city in conjunction with the local diocese which owns the abandoned parish are going to forcefully evict the new tenets from the property. In a flurry of grassroots activism, students from the college he was attending turned out en mass to support the fledgling community.

Shane and his friends are struck by the reality that our Lord and Savior was indeed a homeless man. The gospels even highlight several times where there is anxiety and concern that there might not be enough food for the crowds that gathered to hear Jesus speak^[2]. Jesus did not live “the good life” like so many of us in the United States enjoy. It is impossible to ignore what is becoming epidemic in this country (and many other nations as well). In the U.S. up to 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year^[3].

To bring some of my experience in working with the homeless here in Elgin, and in Chicago over the course of the past semester and compare it with what we have been learning in Dr. Johnson's Intro to Sociology course has been extraordinarily enriching. I often find myself in class thinking of living examples of ideas we are reading out of the text^[4].

In my first Service Learning Experience Paper (SLEx Paper), I discussed the social order of the homeless briefly. I feel that to truly dive into and evaluate that, I would need to spend more time being inside that network. Recently, Mike Yankowski was on campus leading our Spiritual Enrichment Week here at Judson University. There were five chapels that week, instead of the requisite three that there normally is. I had heard a little of Mike before he came (He is somewhat of a figure on campus, thanks in large part to him being here the year before, and his book now being required reading for some classes), and just before he came a friend of mine from Denver (Who actually works for the Denver Rescue Mission where Mike stayed) recommended his book Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America. The book is a reflection on the six months that Mike and his friend Sam spend living as homeless men in six different cities in the U.S. Mike told a story in chapel of a man they met in San Fransisco who was known among “the park people” as “The Jesus Guy.” The Jesus guy is actually George^[5]. In chapel, Mike described even more than what is found in the book. George is actually living in government housing himself, and spends much of his income on food that he brings down to the park to share with other homeless people. This stands out because it marks a clean delineation within the homeless community. This man who barely blips on the social radar of the lower class in America is actually doing well enough to be a provider to a group of homeless that live in Golden Gate Park. Instead of saving as much money as he can to propel himself higher within “normal” society, George is intentionally positioning himself in such a way to maximize what he can offer to the others who live as he recently had.

Mike also told a story of an elderly man who approached them one night with a loaf of bread. The man walked up, asked them if they had eaten, broke the loaf in two and handed them the crusty hunk of bread. Seeing that this man was frail, they insisted that he take all the bread. The man simply responded that God had provided enough for him today, and that he should share the excess with others in need. Again showing that even within the homeless community, there is a network of social support. To evaluate the effectiveness, or measure the reach of this network is not my aim here, it is simply something that is there.

Near the end of the semester in Sociology, we began to study labor markets and how they are split into two distinct echelons. The primary labor market typically being described as “white collar” and the secondary labor market as “blue collar.” We studied some of the more intricate details and some of the “why's” of this reality, but near the end Dr. Johnson spoke of “channeling” into the labor markets. I was struck in that moment that the homeless exemplify that, they are victims also of labeling. Once you are homeless, there is a what is often referred to as a “vicious cycle” of employment obtainment. Jobs are hard to find in the current economic trend, and if you don't possess the basic skills for a given job, you are out of luck. But, even when you possess the requisite skill, if you are without a permanent address or phone number, you may be denied employment as this demonstrates “unacceptable risk” on the employers part. This comes full circle when you realize that to obtain housing, one must have income.

In the end, I feel like participating in SLEx enhanced my study of sociology. You might have titled my SLEx “LIF110: Intro to Urban Problems”. The early mornings serving breakfast, and the aching legs after wandering around Chicago passing out lunches are positive memories. That along with readings from Shane Claiborne's and Mike Yankowski's books lead to true life education. I was able to experience what I was being taught. I was able to see case studies come alive before my eyes. Definitions and statistics translated into true life, theory became practice. As I have already noted, I have just begun learning about homelessness and urban problems in America, but I move on from this semester with more than a simple grade on a transcript.

Citations

1. Shane Claiborne. The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical. p. 56.

2. Matthew 14:15.

3. “http://lahsc.org/wordpress/educate/statistics/united-states-homeless-statistics/”Accessed: 06 December 2007.

4. Stark. Sociology, Tenth Edition.

5. Mike Yankowski. Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America. pp. 138 – 142.