Radical Grace
January – March 2007

Observations of a Wounded Healer

by Karen Navarro

Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, “The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheat fields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding.” You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer: “There is no ‘other world.’ I only know what I’ve experienced. You must be hallucinating.”
                           ~ Rumi

These words by Rumi resonate with me. Yes! This is the human condition! We are embryonic in our understanding, not only of God, but of one another. From the time we are children, most of us are taught by adults and our peers that conventionality is good, differences are bad. Unless, of course, the difference is one of superior skill, as in the case of a child prodigy. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus calls us to “turn and become like children” who have not yet learned to judge others who are not like us.

As a society, we Americans are embryonic in our understanding of homelessness. When you walk into a large box store, you don’t look around at all the other shoppers and muse, “These people are all alike.” But when you are driving your car through downtown USA and see a line of people waiting for a meal at a feeding site, you probably think, “These are ‘the homeless.’” Probably, unless like me, you actually know individuals who are homeless.

Homelessness is a life condition, not an identity. It can be short-term or long-term. There are many reasons a person may become homeless, and most are occasions of brokenness: childhood neglect or abuse, serious injury or debilitating physical illness, addiction, severe mental illness, trauma resulting in PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), or loss of intimate relationship(s) through death or divorce. I have met many people who became homeless in their teens. I have met some individuals who grew up in orphanages, some Native Americans who were sent away to repressive boarding schools, and many people who grew up in foster care or with reluctant relatives.

Karen Navarro, a co-member of the Loretto Community, is the “Client Advocate” at St. Martin’s Hospitality Center in Albuquerque, NM and is a member of the National Coalition to End Homelessness.

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