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Dear Inner Circle,
I'm
sitting at The Fountain Cafe in Kings Cross because I'm a bit afraid
that if
I walk into Wayside, this note will not be written. We have a
Board meeting
tonight and our Business Manager has been sending me
emails since 6am.
To say the least it's busy at Wayside in recent days.
It's busy because we have
a growing number of community activities which
means additional people are
coming and going and it's busy because the
number of people who visit Wayside
and ask for some kind of help has
also increased. I'm in awe of our front line staff
who maintain
extraordinary compassion for people even when the demands upon
them are
daunting.
It's
a rather nice cool morning. The lady on the next table has a big leaf
in her hair
that looks like it just fell on her head. She's just ordered
a large chocolate
milkshake with two marshmallows. It's not an ideal
breakfast but I wouldn't
mind one myself. There are three old fellows on
the table on the other side of me
who are having coffee and sharing a
bowl of chips. That is more weird I think.
These funny old sausages are
all deaf so I, and half of Kings Cross, know what's
on their minds.
Since the Bourbon has stopped trading, what used to be the steps
into
the gambling area has been transformed into something of an amphitheatre
for
homeless people to sit and watch the world go past. There are three
people
who I know enjoying the cool and engaged in conversation with
each other.
A homeless fellow asked me the other day, "Does human damage
make the human
voice louder?" I have no idea what the right answer is
but I know that loud voices
are a constant feature of life at Wayside.
One of the people on the amphitheatre is
a transexual person for whom
the transition is entirely unconvincing, however,
she is one of the
kindest people I know and she certainly makes this world a
better place.
Most of the people walking past are in a hurry to get somewhere. They
look like
successful people on their way to the CBD. Our lovely old
lady who wanders
around wearing everything she owns just walked past. In
cool weather this dear
old thing doesn't look too out of place but you
should see her in the middle of
summer dressed like she's ready for
voyage to the antarctic. The three deaf guys
now are solving the problem in Syria with such enthusiasm that their chips are
going cold.
Quite
a young man who is often at Wayside just walked past like he was
hurrying off
to the CBD as well. I asked him how he was and he replied,
"Good, bad, not sure".
I'll take that as a "good".
My
heart is heavy for the family of that young fellow who lost his life
after being
tasered by police. I'm most supportive of police and testify
that they are mostly
compassionate in difficult circumstances here at
Wayside but I hate tasers with a passion.
Police use of guns has not
diminished since tasers were issued so the main argument
for these nasty
things is weak. I've only seen one in use on one occasion and then
there were five officers and one cranky customer. The use of the taser
was entirely
unnecessary. It seems on Sunday there were five or even six
officers trying to
apprehend a man that was running away in fright. I
would think that the use
of these rotten things ought to cease
immediately and at a minimum the multiple
use of tasers should be
absolutely forbidden. I know the hearts of the man's family
will ache
for the rest of their days.
I
could stay here all day and have a most enjoyable day. The deaf guys
keep
touching each other on the arm or poking each other depending on
the strength of the
point they are trying to make. I guess it's a way of
stopping your deaf mate from drifting off topic.
It's funny and it will
be me one day.
This
Sunday is Neighbour Day and we at Wayside are inviting all of our
neighbours
in for high tea on our rooftop garden. If you are our
neighbour or within cooee or if
you are in town at that time, we'd love
to have you drop in for a cuppa. It's happening
this Sunday from 11 am
to 12pm. Just drop in, no need to respond to the invitation
or pretend
that you want to borrow a cup of sugar. We love our neighbours and we
try hard to be a good neighbour.
I hope you don't mind this note from the cafe this morning. What a wonderful
community is Kings Cross!
Graham
Rev Graham Long
Pastor
The Wayside Chapel
Kings Cross
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