The "Bad" Side of Town.

"There's a nice library downtown you can visit if you like," said my mom. "You don't want to be there after dark though. It's not the best side of town..."

"Did you hear about that man fishing in your pond?" Said my neighbor while I was paying him a visit. "I have," I replied. "My mom told me all about it." "You can't trust people anymore nowadays." He responded. "You know that man lives down the road from us. There's a lot of bad people down there..."

"I actually don't know this area very well." I admitted to a pair of new friends from my first time at church. "Tell me more." "Well there is some real nice buildings and historical structures you can check out downtown." My new friend advised me. "There's even a dollar theater. But you won't want to be there after midnight, it can be kind of sketch."

To be honest, these accounts are fabricated based on my memory of the conversations so they are not word for word, but the topic remains truthful.

On 3 separate occasions this month I've had 3 discussions with 3 different people from diverse walks of life about unsafe areas with untrustworthy people. I've only been in this community for a month...

What, then, compels us to speak about our own town in this manner?

I'm sure you've experienced something similar at one point in your life. There always seems to be a "bad" side of town that attracts "up to no good's" and whether they're friends or family who advise us, we are often steered clear of these areas, mostly at certain times of the day (as if zombies come out to eat you if you stay out after sunset).

The premise of these conversations are usually beneficial and well directed, but somewhere in the midst of being concerned for your friend or your relative's safety, the conversation can take a turn towards one of judgement, condemnation, and marginalization. I am guilty of this, too. But lately I've been examining the result of these conversations and how to approach talking about the "bad" side of town without casting judgement or marginalizing people as a ramification of their location.

My points of view will be personal, public, practical/logical, and biblical.

Personal:

As a result of contemplating why we consider the inner city or downtown sections unsafe or unfit for us to venture into, I came upon an opportunity to get involved in said area with my local church.

One of the lady's from the church I've started to attend this past month runs a food-bank ministry for the church. For the past year this lady has organized the donation and purchase of non-perishable food products to be distributed within the inner-city to low income housing residents. I had the honor of tagging along this past Thursday.

We loaded her car with about 8 equally packaged bags and drove ten minutes into one of the most historical parts of town. Just a few days prior I had come to this very area to celebrate my father's 25th anniversary of employment to his company. His boss and many of his co-workers had dined with us in a historical restaurant by the water. This was a fairly expensive place which I deduce draws middle to upper class clientele. Yet only a few streets away happen to be The Virginian. A place I will acquaint  you with now.

The Virginian, I presume, was a hotel of prestige at one time as Thomas Jefferson was a guest. Yet now it has lost much of it's grander, other than the marble walls in the lobby, and nobody of distinction, I fear, would wish to be found dead in the place. The current residents are on welfare (for whatever reason, but none that I wish to address here), living in a building without central AC or heating I believe. Each floor has it's own unique odor (none pleasant) and access to a single elevator, which I've been told hardly ever works.

We loaded a grocery cart with the food we brought and proceeded to go from floor to floor delivering to residents we had on a list for that week's rotation. Every two weeks the lady I assisted makes a delivery to The Virginian, but never with enough food to feed everyone. The goal is to provide consistently to those they've build friendships with and for a few who are disabled and unable to make it out to collect from other social services.

In spite of being in the midst of one of the 'roughest' parts of town, I never once felt in danger (keep in mind this was at 10 in the morning). In fact, many of the residents would greet us sincerely and often would wait for us when they knew we would be using the elevator. One gentleman we ministered with confessed to us that he'd like prayer for deliverance from black magic, voodoo, tarok cards, evil spirits, demons, voices, etc. But even in that I did not feel afraid. I was joyful that we were able to pray with him and believe with him that the power of Jesus could expel any weapon formed against him. More over, once we had finished delivering food we were approached by a woman in need of a ride to the YMCA to pick up free food and then to her home. We humbly did as she asked with no concern for our welfare as it was not being put into question.

The least promising thing that came from our trip was the fact that though we had successfully distributed food and given a ride to a young lady, we saw what appeared to be a confrontation between police officers and some residents outside of The Virginian. I am not sure why they were there, but if I had to postulate, it would be because we witnessed lots of smoking. I assume the illegal use of marijuana could have been a possible outcome. However, this does not verify the danger to a person nor the need to avoid such locations. In fact, I would argue the opposite.

In a location with very little income, influence of unhealthy habits, and people with physical disabilities, how can I as a Christian, as an individual, as a human being, not feel sympathy for these people? How can I judge them for the state they live in without ever considering the circumstances that brought them to that place. Why would I allow my preconceived notions of downtown's, of inner cities, and "bad" parts of town influence my behavior toward these people? Are they less human because they live in a area with a poor reputation? A reputation, mind you, that I've only ever heard described as the "bad" side of town from people who live outside this location. Yet I found that even in our efforts to "help" them with food and prayer we still judged them.

As we were getting ready to pray for an older gentleman who served in World War 2, I set on the ground a box I had been holding. The box's purpose was to hold more bags of food than our hands could carry. The box made it easy to transport food from one level to another without having to haul individual bags. Since the box was valuable to our needs we were keeping it instead of getting rid of it. I made the mistake of setting the box on the floor of the lobby in The Virginian only to be snapped at not to do so. I understood the floor was sticky and perhaps not the most sanitary place to set something down, especially since we planned to place more food in it for our next visit, but the quick snap brought my mind not to the person we were getting ready to serve (who by God's grace we were able to minister to), but rather the slum conditions they live in and thus the reason we, who live in an area with clean floors, are superior to them. This is not at all the mindset we carry with our words, but our actions seem to indicate otherwise.

The final straw that broke the camels back came when the lady we gave a ride to the YMCA and then  home kindly offered us a couple bottles of water. No offence to the lady I was volunteering with, but she denied the water. Why was it necessary to say no thanks to a person who was only trying to repay the favor? Again, why live in a way that indicates "I'm better than you because I have a car and money to buy purified bottled water?"  Sure the water was not purified or from a natural spring and taking a drink would not increase our health, but it doesn't hurt to accept the gift. I took the bottles in respect of her offer and the fact that I really needed what she was giving me as it was a hot day. I drank and I have not yet died. I drank and I have not yet received worms. I drank in the attempt to accept where this lady was from and the conditions she lives in as not being harmful to me in any capacity. I drank in the attempt to acknowledge in myself that her circumstances don't define her, and to show her I'm willing to submit myself to them because I want to honor her existence, not as a means to do good works within my religion, but as a person who lives and breathes and moves. A person who has value. A person who has been given the same kind of love I have been given whether or not she has received it, I don't know. But I believe she is a person who is loved by Jesus Christ. And Jesus through life and death displayed a love so strong nothing can separate her from it.

Conclusion:

It is evident to me that people because of their location are looked at as lesser humans. As if their location defines them as scum rather than people. Whether we realize it or not, my opinion carries that we marginalize people because of their circumstances.

(Again, I'll address this more from a biblical perspective, the public's opinion, and also more on the practical ways this is done and if it is healthy or unhealthy to do so in upcoming posts. But for now I only want you to see my personal experience with people inside the city.)

Let it be known that I do not live in said area and have only visited a few times, but each time whether it was in my own town or a different city in a different country (referring to my Vancouver experience), I have not felt at harm. It startles me then, that we even say there is a "bad" side. Does a reputation of moral, and perhaps more accurate, legal corruption taint you with fear of people? It doesn't swallow me up with fear. In fact, my heart longs to get to know these people so that I may have a better understanding of them and their difficulties. If I understand their hardships, I can do what I can to help ease their burdens and share mutual happiness with them in this beautiful world we live in.

My personal view is based on my religion which would agree with the statement that all people are loved by God and because of that love I have received, I now have the grace to offer it to everyone I encounter. This means I shouldn't be judging a person because of their location or even past affiliations with moral or legal failure. I have the obligation to treat them with value as if they never made a mistake, because to assume I have the right to judge them for their mistakes would be, in effect, ignoring my own moral and legal failures. If I am not worthy of love, and yet I am loved, how then can I have the audacity to not treat others in the same love I have received? By stating there is a "bad" side of town, I conclude that there have to be bad people and that because I'm not in that location I must not be bad. But the reality is, I know I am! Therefore, I cannot bring judgement upon those people at all, but especially because of their location. I must then conclude that because I am bad and that they are also bad, there is no distinguishable delegation that can be made in regards to there being a "bad" side of town. The town is "bad" wherever a person resides, therefore it is not a location that determines "bad" people but it is their inherent nature. So then, if it is our nature that defines our failures to what purpose does it serve to marginalize people for their location rather than their condition? And by act of marginalizing people as a result of their location I am, in effect, becoming the very "bad" person I am warning others to avoid. It is not by love through grace and mercy I have received in my life to call somebody "bad," but it is out of my own pride of thinking I have it together more than they do. But do I really have it more together because I was born or grew up in a less controversial location?

We cannot choose where we are born or to what past we must inherent, so I cannot devalue a person by their circumstance or at all really if I must hold myself to the integrity that I am by no act of my own better than them. Therefore, because I am no greater than them, why plead to my friends and family to avoid these locations? I will discuss the probability of the risk of physical danger in my practical approach, but as a personal perspective on this matter, I cannot say there is one more "bad" area than the next.

If you have to be cautions of physical harm that can come to you and your family, it may be best to approach all locations with the sense that someone can inflict harm on you. But if you are like me and you have been given freedom of fear, you don't have to worry about there being a "bad" side of a town. You will see people broken by oppression in need of the love and freedom you and I possess. May you then, like my new philosophy, view a person not by their location and the possible risk of danger that has corrupted their area, but may you view them as real people subject to unfavorable circumstances. Only then will you see that it is not a "bad" location made up of "bad" people that you should warn your friends and family to avoid, but rather real people who have been marginalized by our judgmental mindset and subconscious actions that you should encourage your friends and family to share life with.

Thank you for reading! I hope you got something out of this and want to come back for more. Now go into the downtown of your city and befriend somebody you can do life with!