On The Road: Destination-Bellingham Washington Story by August H Mallory

As I begin this story on saturday, January, 17, 2009 I arrive here on a tuesday and as I begin to check out this seaport city, I am amazed by the scenery of bellingham. I have heard much about this city. it was almost like seattle was a million miles away. as always, I am very curious as to how each city copes with its homeless problem. and I do this by talking to many nonprofit organizations that deal with the homeless and focus on issues of poverty. I made my way to a place called the light house mission ministries, a local gospel rescue mission that houses homeless men. I really wanted to know just how does this city deal with the poor and homeless. in my experience being homeless is a very traumatic experience. and dealing with other homeless people can be twice as nerve wrecking. you deal with issues of mental illness, and extreme violence, with homeless people. but as I make my way to the light house mission ministries. I arrive just in time to check in. as each man lines up to enter he is given a breatherlizer just see if he has been drinking alcohol. and there were a few that had been and as they were breatherlized they were immediately escorted back out the door. I can understand this to be a matter of safety but to throw a person out in the cold like that is a little harsh to me. a person could die in the cold. and I think this type of attitude should change amongst mission staff.
but moving on I am now checked in and I go through the normal worship service and so forth. and then we have dinner and it is off to bed, but it is not long before I hear a ruckus with the mission staff. two staff members are having it out with one another. and it gets to the point where they nearly come to blows with each other. immediately other staff members intervene and the two individuals are taken off the floor and escorted to the mission director's office. finally everybody is now in bed and I hear guys still talking. as people do in every shelter after lights are out.
the next morning I get up and head out the door to explore the city a little more. and as I walk around the seaport. I see homeless people pushing shopping carts along the streets of bellingham. I speak with staff at the local salvation army and ask them to give their opinion on how the homeless situation can be ended. well they do give me some quotes from the bible but we do get down to more earthly solutions. by talking with congress people, and other state representatives to provide money to get more services to aide the poor and homeless, I even went as far as talking to local employment agencies and getting their views on what to do about ending the homeless situation in their city, we even got in the problems of the economy and how things do effect the poor. alot more than well off people. I even spend a couple of days talking with the homeless. but there is this new attitude with the homeless than years past. most of the homeless have a more positive attitude. and many have no problem with being poor. and many have come to accept poverty as an everyday thing for them. and many have said that they were born poor, so why try to change anything now. well, in many ways I can understand that being born in poverty, things can look hopeless, but a person can come out if they truly put forth alittle effort. but I guess so many people have fallen through the cracks so far down, that they just see no way to pull themselves up. and even though I have been able to bring myself out of the gutter, I still wonder about the many other people who are still beaten down by the pressure of living in poverty. and as I spend my last few hours in bellingham, I hang out by the seaport, and watch all of the boats come in and go out. and as I look over the city from a distance, just about six feet from me is an old homeless man who looks to be about seventy years old and he is playing a flute and dancing to the tunes that he is playing. I am now fifty two years old and I often will ask myself, will I live long enough to see my seventies.