March 16, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Opinion

Celebrate the Four Leaf Clover!

Collective community character

Someone once said that it is how we react to crisis that defines our character. However, I have come to believe that it is also how we define crisis that defines our character. The admirable effort of the hundreds of volunteers who gave their time, their energy and their hearts to help build a new home for the Collins family in Louisiana stands as one symbol of the outpouring of caring and generosity of our nation in the aftermath of a great tragedy.

Everyday there remain families and individuals coping with the devastation of Katrina. And at the same time there exist families and individuals coping with challenges and obstacles, equal in gravity and proximity, in Philadelphia.

Over the past several weeks, the Local has covered the proposed addition of a homeless family shelter on the campus of the New Covenant Church. The idea has been met with opposition and skepticism. I do not think it presumptuous to assume that many of the same people who are balking at putting a homeless shelter in their neighborhood sent aid to those affected by Katrina. And that is to be celebrated. But why not help the many, many families in our city ravaged by poverty, mental illness, drug addiction, poor education and bleak job prospects?

There are natural disasters that come in tornadoes of wind and rain, and then there are those that happen quietly, mundanely, dismissively. In the end, how we respond to the crisis of our homeless Philadelphians will define our collective character as a community as much as how we responded to the hurricane defined our collective character as a nation.

Jennifer Katz
Listings Editor