Becky Says...

November 2005

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On Franklin - November 21

Chapel Hill at midday. The picture is from last week, on a reasonably warm day. Rain was predicted, and the sky was overcast. But everyone just knew that the rain wouldn't really come. So all of us who were on Franklin Street were without umbrellas or coats.

Franklin Street, from the wall at University Methodist

And the rain didn't come, except for one quick barrage of soft drops that dried up almost as soon as they landed.

Today, if I'd had a camera along, I would have taken a picture of all of us with umbrellas open or wearing hats or hoods (I was in the last group), since it was, at midday, raining just barely enough to mess up eyeglasses. This time, with the knowledge that comes from staying in Chapel Hill a while, we were sure it would rain. And it was chilly enough that we all wanted coats.

I've been thinking a whole lot these past few days about the local homeless, the street people in Chapel Hill, and hoping that the ones I see napping either on the benches or the sidewalks have gone to the shelter for the night. It's about a block north of the location pictured.

The local shelter has been a source of controversy from the moment it was proposed. I am not going to address the politics of the thing, but I will say that homeless people congregated on Franklin Street long before the shelter was a reality, and if it moves to a distant neighborhood (distant for those on foot, I mean), there will still be congregations of homeless on Franklin Street at midday.

Congregations, perhaps praying for a better life.

Text © copyright 2000-2005 Becky