Mmmm...Turmoiliscous
As I sit here at Dabar, having just booted 3 homeless people from the cafe, I can't help but feel a great turmoil within me. As an employee of this business I must ensure that profits are made, which includes not giving hand-outs and ensuring that customers are not offended by the "lessers" of society. If "they" are almost passed out drunk (or worse) and hollering at passers-by and inconveniencing everyone I must remove them. But as a child of God, called to care for all my siblings, where is the line? As a Christian business what is Dabar's obligation? Why do we may stipulations where businesses are exempt from helping people because they have a "higher" calling - money?
posted by Chuck @ 4:44 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
You do not "boot" people out of a coffee shop because they are homeless or "lessers," you ask people to leave because they are not behaving properly. If a well-dressed millionaire comes in and starts hollering at passers-by and inconveniencing everyone, you ask them to leave. If a young clean-cut university student comes in and starts viewing porn on the computers, you also ask them to leave. The people that walk through the front doors of a coffee shop are customers, yes, but they are also guests and should be expected to behave as such, whomever they are. You treat them the same as if you had invited them into your home -- you expect them to respect the rules of your home and not show up on your doorstep almost passed out drunk.
As an employee of a business (or at least of this business) your obligation is not to ensure that profits are made. Your obligation is to contribute what you can to the success of that business, which could be to provide a place of peace and rest, to keep a group of people employed, to survive as an example that a business can be run on Christian principles and not go bankrupt, which helps no one except bankruptcy lawyers. You can't give out hand-outs because your employer's goods are not yours to give, but nothing stops you from buying someone a coffee with your own money. Your obligation is to take the resources that have been given into your care and steward them as you would all the things that have been given into your care in this world. And as an employee who is Christian, your opportunity is to bring glory to God by your conduct in that job. All of which I believe you have done, by the way.
As a child of God, called to care for your siblings, there is no line. You MUST care for them. But how does allowing one of your brothers or sisters to alienate themselves from others by their behaviour help them? If it were someone in your own family with a problem with alcohol, sometimes the only way to care for them is telling them they can't come around anymore if they have been drinking. Sometimes setting a standard of conduct, and holding people to it, is the best way to care for them. Sometimes going up and talking to them, and helping them find a phone number to call is the best way to care for them. Sometimes letting them sit quietly or even doze off in peace is the best way to care for them. Sometimes calling the police is the best way to care for them and get them the help they need, even if it is only a warm place to sleep it off. Sometimes telling them you can't come around here anymore if you have been drinking is the best way to care for them.
But perhaps the best way to care for all your siblings is to not draw a line, not call them "the homeless" or "the mentally ill," not categorize "them" at all. Treat every person with respect, recognizing each person's individual humanity, each person's individual flaws and individual extraordinary beauty. Care for every single person who walks through the door the best that you can -- customers, non-customers, owners, employees, the postal carrier, the pop delivery guy, yourself -- recognizing however the limitations in your role and abilities, respecting appropriate boundaries, and realizing that loving your neighbour as yourself does not necessarily mean being able to do everything for everyone. In other words, there is nothing you can do in a coffee shop to cure the mental illness that is likely the root cause of someone's homelessness. Sometimes all you can do is respectfully ask people to leave, and then pray.
Dabar's obligation as a business is ultimately the same as yours as a citizen -- respect the law, try to behave in a responsible and ethical manner, contribute to society by doing the best job you can. Dabar's obligation as a business run by Christians is the same as yours as a Christian -- uphold the covenant, try to behave in a responsible and moral manner, contribute to God's kingdom by doing the best job you can. The taxes we pay as a company and as individuals pay for the low-income housing initiatives of the city, the social support system, the counselling programs at AADAC, the police that keep us safe, the ambulances that pick up people when they have had too much to drink, be it a college student or a "homeless" person. The wages we pay keep people employed and off the street, and their taxes in turn also pay for our social safety net. We buy fair trade coffee so that farmers on the other side of the planet can also be helped out of poverty and homelessness. We stay open while a church service runs so that people might hear the gospel. We don't kick people out who are sitting quietly just because they are "homeless" or smell of alcohol, only if they stop respecting those around them. We work with the Old Strathcona Business Association, working with the police and other partners on solutions to this and other concerns. What else can we do? Become busy enough and successful enough to hire two people per shift, one who can handle the money and one to help out with bussing of tables and sweeping the floors, so that maybe we can give people a job to start getting them back on their feet.
You really want to care for people who are homeless? Lobby for more funding for mental health programs. Pay your taxes without complaining, except when it is being wasted. Get the government to increase AISH limits, or vote in a government who will. Get to know people working at the homeless shelters so that you can refer people. Invite the Old Strathcona adult outreach worker to come by on your shift -- the information is on the bulletin board. The next time that someone you "booted out" comes in, welcome them and encourage them if they are sober. Buy them a coffee or a muffin as you are able if you feel so called, just as Dabar can and does donate its goods and services in ways it feels called to do. Leave the blue bag of bottles out of the dumpster so that it can easily be picked up. Pray constantly for every person who walks through the Dabar doors now that God has had them cross your path.
Businesses are not exempt from helping people, although admittedly some forget that fact, and if our higher calling was money, we would not have invested in a coffee shop -- high risk, low return, much better to have just put it all in RRSPs. This business is helping people by employing people in what I trust is a positive work environment, paying suppliers who keep their employees working, providing musicians with a place to play, artists a place to display the fruits of the creativity given to them by God, giving a home to a church that needed a space to gather, providing a place where people can stay in touch with their loved ones, send photos, feel at home when they are away from home, by creating an atmosphere that opens people up to the beauty of the world and its possibilities, by treating all who come through its doors with respect and expecting them to respect themselves as well, customers, owners and employees alike, by being a lamp unto the world and into our neighbourhood.
Maybe one day enough money is saved up to start another coffee shop and employ more people, maybe grow a whole chain that gets profiled in Macleans so that we can proclaim our thanks to God. Or maybe we stay as one little shop, affecting just our little corner of the world but profoundly. Maybe one day there is enough saved up to donate to a homeless shelter, or reestablish the one in Old Strathcona that got shut down because people didn't want it in their backyard. Or maybe one day the proprietors just manage to get paid a fair wage for their day's work. We can always dream. But in the meantime, we do what we can for the good of others and the glory of God.
It isn't about the money. It's about the very highest of callings. It always has been. It always should be.
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