He was one of us
Dear Editor,
I bet you never heard about the homeless man who died near the entrance of the transport centre in Half-Way-Tree. He died on Monday, January 26, 2015.
He had bandages on both feet. He also carried a cane, an indication of his sight disability.
Was he just too tired to endure the pain of ill health? Was he tired of the long wait in the public health care system? Was he too hungry to make it back to the hospital?
Did it matter that he lacked shelter, nutritional support, human touch, and love? Does it matter that his long wait for a burial will still see him buried without the fanfare of the funeral parade?
In life, his human dignity was severely wounded. In death, he has no identity.
This man was neither without identity or voice! He continues to speak in the corridors of Jamaica’s streets, hospitals, marketplace, and anywhere the poor seek help. He cries in the hallways of justice. And when he is tired, he just weeps.
If only he belonged to a nation where the most vulnerable are spared the onslaught of the combining factors of aging, hunger, thirst, and being without shelter. If only his voice were heard. Just listen and you will hear his voice.
Maybe the best part of this story is that he may be easily identified. Everyone knows Jam Doe. He is such a ‘nuisance’! Just the sight of him is a challenging reminder that we have a duty to each other. And he has the gall to stay in sight where I may be reminded that the story of the Good Samaritan is not just an exercise for Sunday or Sabbath School.
Have we become desensitised as a nation with regards to the weak, the forgotten, the powerless, and those for whom it seems God has died!
I dream of a prayer breakfast where the proceeds contribute to fund a shelter for the homeless. However, this breakfast would not feature Danish and croissants. It would be plain mint tea and Jamaican crackers.
Just imagine what a revolution of the mind that might achieve for us in Jamaica.
What if we declared a year of the homeless and all Jamaica was reawakened to the plight of the homeless? Imagine corporate Jamaica, and Church, and State, all working together to serve the interest of all concerned. Imagine the Jamaican diaspora and friends of Jamaica coming on board to rescue the weak and powerless. The good news is that this is possible. Have we got the will?
I write this in sacred memory of Jam Doe and all those Jamaican citizens who find it so difficult to go one step further. Those on the margins of society, bandaged, but not healed. Sometimes they are fed; but always hungry for love. May they live in peace, and may we be the agents of transformation, healing, and change.
Fr Sean Major-Campbell
Vineyard Town
seanmajorcampbell@yahoo.com