Hello, my name is Walter. I'm the summer student in the Employment Centre here at the Mustard Seed.
Recently Desiree, my neighbor, and I had an interesting discussion about hope, the topic of which has been a recurring theme for me this summer. She told me of her encounter on the previous day, on the streets of Calgary where she had witnessed humanity in its most savage, and depraved form. Two men had, without reasonable prompting, proceeded to pummel another man in the face. The police eventually arrived to break up the crowd, but with tempers flaring, their arrival only seemed to make things worse.
These kinds of angry street scenes seem to be common occurrences during my stay. From my open window downtown I regularly hear bouts of drunken rage, nicely garnished with horrific swear words and slurred threats.
Many of our guests have had traumatic life experiences, witnessed brutal and inhuman acts of injustice and lived in a violent world where alcohol is seen as the only logical form of escape. After living in such overbearing circumstances, I wonder if there ever comes a point in which a person can no longer be helped with his or her burden. When is that point reached in which they’ve almost lost their defining traits of humanity and simply become instinctive rage-induced beings? Many would argue that there is always a glimmer of hope in every human. Yet time and time again we seem to have visitors at our door who never change. They keep coming back where they erupt into explosions of rage over minor things, inflict unnecessary physical and emotional pain on others, and they seem to have withdrawn completely from the consequences of their actions. Can someone reach that point of no return? Or will there always be a glimmer of hope? I don’t claim to know the answer; I don’t think humans can know the answer.
What seems to matter though is the way we react. I can’t judge the reactions of those on the scene that weekend. Yet I strongly believe that harsh reactions go against everything the Mustard Seed believes in. We convey hope in our actions: if we are disrespectful to guests it may be interpreted that he or she is a hopeless cause, and when we show love then we project hope.
Maybe the question of hope doesn’t lie in whether or not humans can reach a point of no return but, instead, whether or not the people around these “hopeless causes” will act in a way that cultivates hope in their souls. During my time here I’ve realized that The Mustard Seed is on the forefront of projecting hope to the hopeless, yet there is always room for improvement. We should never stop wondering whether or not we’re growing hope or tearing it down with our actions.
Ask yourself, in your daily interactions are you being hopeful and loving with the people who least deserve it?
- Walter
Great post!
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