Trading places...

In my work at the clothing room of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, I meet all sorts of people who have many different struggles. The fellow going into rehab, the woman living at a halfway house, the newcomer from Africa trying to cope with his first Canadian winter, the homeless woman under the influence of an addiction -- all make me wonder how it would feel if we traded places. Sometimes it's too easy to imagine it.

Fundamentally, there is no difference between us, though we often think in terms of US and THEM rather than in terms of solidarity with our brothers and sisters who find themselves in dire straits. But if we are honest, their anguish is our anguish. It's only ever been US.