The Trail Doesn’t Burn
“Yeah, I won’t have anything else to do with this one organization. When you go there, you can just feel them sitting there and judging you.”
Client: “I know y’all are wishing I would just shut up now, because I know y’all have a lot of other people to check on.”
ROC Member: “No, we are glad to be sitting here with you and spending some extra time with you today. Especially since we haven’t seen you in a while.”
Client: “A lot of people don’t understand that it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to work right now. I know I am much happier to be where I am at right now. The stress of working right now after both my mom and dad just died would make me snap!”
ROC Member: “Well, we respect people and their right to make their own decisions. We think that is really important.”
“I’ve got to get into some housing or something. I am reaching a breaking point out here!” (Starts to tear up)
Client: “I got a question. What does it mean when your hands are numb, and you have a constant burning feeling at the same time?”
ROC Member: “Hmmm. Not sure. But it probably means you should see a doctor.”
“I am above ground, so I guess I am blessed.”
“Well, I lost my apartment. I am over here in my car, but it isn’t working. I am out of options. I don’t know what to do.”
“My abuser is in jail right now. I am hoping they are in there for at least a year. I know I shouldn’t say this about another human being, but I hope they die. You couldn’t believe the terrible things they have done to me.”
“There are a lot of ways to die.”
The picture below is of a trail that used to lead to an encampment. The encampment is no longer there, due to it catching on fire, along with a large portion of the woods surrounding it. A R.O.C. member snapped this picture due to how odd it looked to see scorched earth all around except for the trail. The trail didn’t burn.
There is significance to this. Why doesn’t the trail burn? What does a trail signify? What does a surrounding destructive fire signify?
Appalachian Trail planner Harold Allen once said of trails: “Remote for detachment, narrow for chosen company, winding for leisure, lonely for contemplation, a trail leads not merely north and south but upward to the body, mind, and soul of man.”
A trail is an indication of activity, movement, and that experiences have taken place. The soles of something or someone’s feet have traversed and have come to know the outlined terrain. A direction at some point was chosen, and others over time have trusted this direction to guide them to a desired destination.
The trails in our lives signify who we are as individuals deep down to our souls. A quote from this week is “There are a lot of ways to die.” If this statement is true, then the statement “There are a lot of ways to live” must also be accepted as true. Everyone’s trail goes in different directions and is made up of different terrain. Everyone’s life is vastly different, and this is good. How boring it would be if all hiking trails were the same. And how boring and a shame it would be if all lives were the same. These life trails are shaped through decisions we make, through decisions that were made for us, and through circumstances that are out of anyone’s control. Regardless of how they are formed, the trails are who we are. They are our experiences. They are the summation of the soul impact life has dealt us and the map we use to guide us through what is next.
The destructive fire signifies trials, chaos, conflict, loss, and adversity. We all have fires, but what makes the difference is who we are when the fires come? What is left of us? What do we have to go off of to find direction? What life experiences do we have to pull from when the fires burn up everything else? What about us will be what guides us out of the fire? The Trail. When the fires come and burn up wealth, pride, status, our image, prosperity, relationships, material things, and societal leverage, it is the trail that remains. That’s all you have left.
And when you are in the midst of the fire, there can be a lot of smoke blocking your perspective of where the trail is and what direction it’s leading you. A way to solve this is by changing your perspective. Get lower. You have to allow yourself to be humbled enough that you can be lower to the ground. Many times when trials are happening, we try to keep standing straight up like everything is normal. Nothing is wrong, as if the fire and its accompanying smoke aren’t fazing us. But blinding pride comes before the fall, and breathing in enough smoke is going to make you fall out whether you choose to or not.
For us at the R.O.C., we believe this is part of the reason why we love interacting and building relationships with those who are experiencing homelessness. Because it’s real, it’s rugged, it’s raw terrain. When you find people who have been through every fire imaginable and are so humbled there is nothing else left to cover the true self with. All that remains is the resilient trail. While their trails may look very different from our own, they have been formed from their life experiences and are carved by the decisions that have been made for the sake of surviving another day.
When we are trying to find a new encampment, the search always starts with first finding a trail. After finding an encampment, we hope to then discover and understand the life trails of those who live there. And the next time the heat rises, the flames engulf, and the smoke billows, we hope to be on the ground helping ensure safety is up ahead.
#ROCAndRoll
#ROCRetrospective
#TheTrailDoesntBurn
