In Corvallis it is so easy to forget about the other faces of the world. If I stop reading the papers, if I stop listening to the radio, I would think that life is easy and that everyone is middle class, affluent. We have high class problems in Corvallis. Yes, we need more money for schools. Yes it would be nice if we had a better mass transit system. We are conservative in our lifestyles and liberal in our politics. Most of us send money to good organizations and write letters and do our part for our causes from a distance. We have very few opportunities to touch and see the pain of the world. I had my little midnight encounter with hate a few months ago. I know that hate is here, lurking in the corners and under the beds. I know if I look under the bridge that I can find a drinking alcoholic or maybe even and junkie. And, I’d suggest that even the junkies and alcoholics have it pretty good in Corvallis.

I need to find a way to touch pain and poverty from time to time. I remember when my mother-in-law cleaned the homeless shelter once a month. That was lovely, washing the laundry of the homeless. Chop wood, carry water. Finding a place and a time to touch and ease the pain of someone. I want to soften the boundaries between my self and the truth of the world. I want to live the Peace Orders vows: I vow to be Diversity, I vow to Harmony, I vow to be Unity. To live these vows I must be able to touch both sides of the human coin. I have lost touch with the other side in my affluent little community here.