Today I went with Lin and her friends and worked at the women and children's shelter. They're working every Friday, and the moms are rotating in to supervise. And yeah, there was all the for the grace of god stuff. I feel incredibly lucky to have been born in the situation in life that has made it easy for me to (mostly) make choices and be put in situations that allowed me to be a volunteer instead of a client.
But really, what amazed me was how completely comfortable I am there. More comfortable than I feel at a cocktail party. I liked serving women food, asking if kids wanted a little extra whip cream on their pie. I felt grateful to be a part of this group, standing quietly while they prayed before digging into the salad that my daughter and her 11 year-old friends made.
I have little in common with these women. I doubt I ever will have. Even in our current financial predicament. I have education, friends, family. I don't have problems with addiction. It's fairly unlikely that I will ever need the grace of a shelter.
They are kind and tolerant to put up with little girls and their moms "serving" them. I have the feeling that the kitchen workers could probably get the meals out quicker and easier themselves. The girls get to feel good about themselves because they think they are helping someone, but really that feeling is far more helpful to the girls than the homeless.
That goes double for me. These women give me a gift. They let me contemplate my own good fortune, they let me feel good about myself, when really I'm not much more than a limousine liberal, going once a week to work.
I'm grateful. I'll go back. It felt warm and welcome.