New York Times: Hurricaned Homeless had to Scramble for Shelter

New York Times writer, Ronald Chavez took a moment yesterday to focus on the plight of the homeless in the wake of hurricane Sandy.  Weather forecasters knew somewhat in advance that tremendous flooding was in store; the possibility of finding a dry spot in the subway (photo) was going to be out of the question. 

Even as the first gusts from Hurricane Sandy blew in on Sunday, Oct. 28, Cozelle Wright rattled a paper cup and asked for change. She stood where she said she usually does: On DeKalb Avenue, across from a Long Island University parking lot. Her eyes were watered and her face had streaks of tears that ran down it.

“After the storm, I’m hoping I’m alive,” Ms. Wright said. She planned on staying with friends or family, she said, but for the time-being she had to collect change from passersby.

“If I’m tired, then I’ll leave,” she said. “If I have enough change, then I’ll leave.”

David Bogardus, a veteran of both the Afghanistan and Iraq war, rode out the storm at the Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter. He began living on the street after he became addicted to painkillers . . .  He recently joined a program designed to help those who struggle with substance abuse at Interfaith Medical Center.

Mr. Picone sat inside the Jay Street-Metrotech subway station staying warm before the storm. It’s been four months since Mr. Picone lost his job as a cook. He eventually spent his savings and couldn’t afford to live in his apartment. He had been staying at a nearby shelter, but said he can’t go back because he got into an altercation.

“What I’m doing is panhandling money to see if I can get into a motel for the night,” he said.
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Hundreds Homeless After Hurricane Sandy

In southern New Jersey, while most of Atlantic City is underwater today (photo), Reuters also reports that a possible levee breach in northern New Jersey on Tuesday, flooded three towns with 4 to 5 feet of water in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, prompting the evacuation of hundreds from their homes.

The towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt were underwater after the swollen Hackensack River broke its banks, affecting around 2,000 residents, said Jeanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive.

Baratta, who was on the scene with emergency personnel, said there was the possibility that the river overflowed its banks rather than broke a levee while a New Jersey State Police spokesman described it as a levee break in the borough of Moonachie.

There were no immediate reports of any fatalities and rescue workers took approximately 200 residents out of the danger zone while some others left on their accord.

"They are wet and they are cold and they have lost their homes and their property. It is very sad," Baratta said.

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Undruggable Pain

By Caryll Houselander

“Stop trying to think out a solution for the moment: there isn’t one.  One day there may be; God will then show it to you.  In the meantime, accept it all as being the big thing for God and His Church that He asks of you-that, and the depression too.  You will find the relief of merely accepting, instead of struggling, wonderful; and I include in this, accepting anything in yourself, during the crisis, which seems to you a failure or fault.  Don’t exonerate yourself, but just say you are sorry, briefly, to God, and add that your name is dirt-that’s what is to be expected from you-but you’re sorry, you are forgiven, and it is over.

“During the war I was simply terrified by air raids, and it was my lot to be in every one that happened in London-sometimes on the roofs of these flats, sometimes in the hospital…. I tried to build up my courage by reason and prayer, etc.  Then one day I realized quite suddenly:  ‘As long as I try not to be afraid I shall be worse, and I shall show it one day and break; what God is asking of me, to do for suffering humanity, is to be afraid, to accept it and put up with it, as one has to put up with pain (if not druggable) or anything else.  I am not going to get out of any of the suffering.  From the time the siren goes until the All Clear, I am going to be simply frightened stiff, and that’s what I’ve got to do for the world-offer that to God, because it is that and nothing else which He asks of me.”

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Fourteen and Homeless

On Sunday, NPR featured Tierra Jackson, a young woman from Chicago.  When in high school, she was struggling. She kept getting yelled at for being late to school.

What most of her teachers and administrators didn't know was the reason for her tardiness: Jackson was homeless. Her mother was in and out of prison. She and her brother were living with her aunt and cousins. All seven of them shared a single room in one of Chicago's homeless shelters, a long bus ride from her school.

Even though Jackson was disciplined for being late, Jackson says she didn't want to tell anyone at the school the reason why.

"I was embarrassed. I was 14, and I was homeless," Jackson says. "I didn't want people to look at me like, oh, you know, she needs charity."

But Jackson needed supplies for school, and her family didn't have the money for them, so her aunt wrote notes for Jackson to bring to school explaining the situation. She found out that it wasn't so bad to ask for help.

"I think the first teacher I gave the note to came to school with this bag of things for me," Jackson says. "And I didn't know how to accept it. But after that, she never treated me differently, and I think that's one of the things I appreciated. I knew that I'm intelligent, you know. I have a brain with thoughts that matter."

Today, Jackson is a junior at Roosevelt University, where she is majoring in international studies with a minor in economics. Life hasn't exactly gotten easier: In addition to school, Jackson works two jobs, at a restaurant and a financial management company, and takes care of her brother and her mother.

"I wanted to go to bed so bad, but I can't because I have to get A's," Jackson says. "I have to do well in school. It's the only thing that I have that can get me out.

"There's so many people who could, you know, be the next Bill Gates and change the world. But because they're poor or they're living in poverty, they're instantly written off because no one thinks they'll make it. I just want to make it."

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Extended Weather Forecast: One Billion Homeless

As many as one billion people could lose their homes by 2050 because of the devastating impact of global warming!  That's the forecast from the U. N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that the developed world should start preparing for a huge movement of people caused by climate change.  The steady rise in temperatures across the planet could trigger mass migration on unprecedented levels.

Hundreds of millions could be forced to go on the move because of water shortages and crop failures in most of Africa, as well as in central and southern Asia and South America.  There could also be an effect on levels of starvation and on food prices as agriculture struggles to cope with growing demand in increasingly arid conditions.

Rising sea levels could also cause havoc, with coastal communities in southern Asia, the Far East, the south Pacific islands and the Caribbean seeing their homes submerged.  North and west Africans could head towards Europe, while the southern border of the United States could come under renewed pressure from Central America.

Craig Johnstone, the UNHCR deputy high commissioner, said in a 2008 London conference that humanity faced a "global-scale emergency" whose effects would accumulate over the next four decades. He said it was impossible to forecast with confidence the numbers of people who would lose their homes through climate change. But he pointed to assessments of between 250 million and one billion people losing their homes by 2050. He said: "This will be a global-scale emergency, but . . . it will take place gradually and over a long period of time."  Mr Johnstone said: "It's the obligation of the people who have the means to be helpful to help. They have an obligation to humanity to help."

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Jesus and the Rich Man

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”  “Which ones?” he inquired.  Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 19:16-23

Commentary

We have to ask, “did the young man really keep all the commandments?”  He seems to think he has, but it's highly doubtful. In Romans 3:10 Paul writes, “No one is righteous, no not one.”  Who is he trying to fool, Jesus?

Nevertheless, even if he hypothetically did keep all the commandments from birth, he would be doing better than King David himself, the greatest earthly king and sinner Israel ever had.  But more importantly Jesus asses that even if he was perfect in this regard, he still has failed the law.  How so?  As a wealthy person hoarding his riches he has not been merciful to the poor.  Mercy is the “new law” the Apostle James says.  Keeping the old law does not save as Paul states over and over in his writings.  All humans are consigned by God to be in need of mercy, and as a result, required to give mercy.

How religious are the religious today?  How righteous are those who do everything right?  It does not matter, does it?  Blessed Mother Theresa has summed it up well in recent times when she said . . .  "At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received. How much money we have made. How many great things we have done. We will be judged by - 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.'"

Blessed Be God

Blessed Be Your Name

By Matt Redman, 2010

Blessed Be Your Name,

In the land that is plentiful,

Where Your streams of abundance flow,

Blessed be Your name.
 

Blessed Be Your name,

When I'm found in the desert place,

Though I walk through the wilderness,

Blessed Be Your name.
 

Every blessing You pour out,

I'll turn back to praise,

When the darkness closes in, Lord,

Still I will say . . .

Blessed be Your name,

On the road marked with suffering,

Though there's pain in the offering,

Blessed be Your name.

Blessed Be God

By Saint John of the Cross, 1545

The love of God does not consist in mere words, but in sorrow and bitter sufferings, in being despised by the world, abandoned by all creatures, and, it may seem, at times, in the withdrawal of even our Creator's favor. In spite of all these trials, the Christian's courage must be firm; he must not complain, not lose heart; he should imitate the martyr who, while they were disemboweling him and tearing the flesh from his bones with iron hooks, had no words on his lips but the Name of Jesus, nor any thought in his heart but “Blessed be God.” He was willing and resolute to bear even greater torments, if it pleased God to send them. Affliction, when borne for Christ, is both a gift and a grace, which he only bestows on his favorites . . .

Let us strive to be martyrs by patience, for though our pains may be less severe, they yet last longer. We ought not to wish for a happy life, but prefer a martyrdom on earth; it was our Lord's portion, and he wishes ours to be the same. Some have died as martyrs for the faith, and others have gone to heaven without doing so, but we must all be martyrs of love, if we wish to arrive there. This love must be a torment and a pain for us, because by the offense given to God by ourselves and others; it must deprive us of all comfort in life, and load our shoulders with the cross. It must make us embrace hardships and overcome them by the burning charity God has kindled in us. This love so carries us out of ourselves that it makes us perfectly insensible to dishonor, as wine takes away the reason of a drunkard. Like all strong affection, it makes a man forget himself; and care only for his Beloved, who in this case is God himself, and his most holy will . . .  We cannot fully realize the strength of the love which tortures us here, and will console us in the next world. Let us believe what God has told us of it, and walk in the faith of his Word, for we have still a long journey before us.

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The Truth About What We Really Own

By St. Francis

We may know with certainty that nothing belongs to us except our vices and sins. We must rejoice, instead, when we fall into various trials and, in this world, suffer every kind of anguish or distress of soul and body for the sake of eternal life.

Let all the brothers therefore, beware of all pride and vainglory. Let us guard ourselves from the wisdom of this world and the prudence of the flesh. Because the spirit of the flesh very much wants and strives to have the words but cares little for the manner of working; it does not seek a religion and holiness in an interior spirit, but wants and desires to have a religion and holiness outwardly apparent to people. They are the ones of whom the Lord says: Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. The Spirit of the Lord, however, wants the flesh to be mortified and despised, considered of little worth, rejected and insulted. It strives for humility and patience, pure simplicity and true peace of the spirit. Above all, it desires the divine fear, the divine wisdom and the divine love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let us refer all good to the Lord, God Almighty and Most High, acknowledge that every good is his, and thank him “from whom all good comes for everything.” May he, the Almighty and Most High, the only true God, have, be given, and receive all honor and respect, all praise and blessing, all thanks and glory, to whom all good belongs, he who alone is good.

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Homeless Billionaire

Yesterday, David Leonard of Bloomberg BusinessWeek reported that twelve years ago, billionaire Nicolas Berggruen (photo) sold his apartment, which was filled with French antiques, on the 31st floor of the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan. He said he no longer wanted to be weighed down by physical possessions. He did the same with his Art Deco house on a private island near Miami. From that point on he would be homeless.

Now he keeps what little he owns in storage and travels light, carrying just his iPhone, a few pairs of jeans, a fancy suit or two, and some white monogrammed shirts he wears until they are threadbare. At 51, the diminutive Berggruen is weathered, but still youthful, with unkempt brown hair and stubble. There’s something else he hung on to: his Gulfstream IV aircraft. It takes him to cities where he stays in five-star hotels. In London, he checks into Claridge’s. In New York, he’s at the Carlyle Hotel. In Los Angeles, he takes a suite at the Peninsula Beverly Hills.

A dual citizen of Germany and the U.S. who speaks three languages, Berggruen makes a point of having lunch and dinner each day with someone intriguing. It could be an author, a famous artist, or a world leader. He prefers to meet them at restaurants near his hotel. He makes reservations for three even when he only plans to dine with one. That way he doesn’t get stuck at a small table. He leaves room for dessert. He adores chocolate.

Homeless or not, Berggruen can afford to live like this because he’s chairman of Berggruen Holdings, a New York-based private equity firm that buys troubled companies and fixes them up. Currently it owns more than 30, including an Australian farming operation, a British life insurer, a Portuguese book publisher, a German department store chain, and real estate development projects in Turkey, Israel, India, and Newark, N.J. According to its website, the privately held holding company’s annual revenue is $5 billion. It throws off $250 million in earnings each year. Berggruen’s personal worth is estimated by Bloomberg Markets to be $2.5 billion.

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Your Gold and Silver are Corroded

Most humans are tempted into believing that wealth will buy happiness, or at the very least, buy us what we want now.  In some strange way, we think immortality is tied to having earthly possessions.  However, James makes it clear that the only wealth that buys eternal life is the treasure found in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ.  He warns the rich of this world . . .

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you.  Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who plow your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you."  James 5:1-6

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