Jesus in Suburbia

Saturday, December 29th, 2012
Going into our second day with Open Hand, it was actually our first day doing deliveries. At first I was a little nervous because it seemed like there were a lot of opportunities to screw it up and we were relying on printed directions to help us navigate. But I was excited because it was also an opportunity to see more of Atlanta and meet some of its residents as well as see the people we were directly helping and preparing meals for.

I was a little wrong about all of these things...the directions they gave us were spot on and I was stoked to be the navigator, despite the pressure of getting us lost. My geography senses were tingling and I started to get a feel of where we were. I was wrong about seeing more of Atlanta, too, as we were actually delivering in one of its suburbs far out off the freeway. Some of the homes were beautiful, some were deteriorating, but most weren't even homes at all. They were elderly assisted living communities, rather.

Communities like this are tough for me because I can't imagine caring for my elderly parents, especially if they were very ill or mentally not all there, nor can I imagine just sending them away. But there are few options in between...some of the people we delivered to seemed to have their wits about them and looked like they were enjoying their independent but assisted lifestyle. Others, however, seemed to be falling apart. Just walking up to their front door you could smell that distinct smell of neglect, poverty and melancholia, many with a hint of cigarettes too. We met one wheelchair ridden man who had severe mobility issues, even with the wheelchair. When he answered the door, he seemed confused as to the year even. He asked us the same question a few times and still misunderstood that we were college students volunteering for Open Hand. The scary thing is that he is just one of many, because the complexes we delivered to were huge, housing hundreds of residents each.

Another striking thing I noticed were all the churches. Obviously we're in the South, so I expected it, but still, there's as many churches here as there are Starbucks in Seattle. And I'm sure you know by now I like coffee more than I do religion. And a lot of these churches seem like they have very devout followers. Nobody has denounced me for lacking religion and there are plenty without it, but a lot of people here are avid about it and assume because of our work, we must be here with a church too. Nope. Not all who do good are religious, not all who are religious do good.