Tag: hope

When I was a child there was a rhyme that my 4th Grade teacher taught our class. It went something like this, “If we all pull together, together, together … if we all pull together, how happy we’ll be!” Yesterday, I reflected upon a pull together kind of day. Not long ago, a sister agency faced an operational crisis. Twenty-five men in a supportive housing situation were suddenly faced with being homeless. What to do? Shelters are full. What to do? Three colleagues said, “We will not let each other or the community down.” We decided to “live united.” The result was interesting. Strangers suddenly became friends. Client needs outweighed agency boundaries. Collaboration, old fashioned sharing, and a lack of selfishness ruled the day. The value of 25 men became the focus and they won. But, not only those 25 men, but the community won. There was no rancor. There was no shouting. There was no “look what we’ve got and what you don’t have.” There was only one clear, sustaining goal … keep those 25 men from becoming homeless! They won. While the actions of this community caring and good didn’t make the news or will not be reported in local papers, it really was news that makes a difference. As the sun set over downtown Atlanta and the little Gateway Center bus rolled along Auburn Avenue and Peachtree Street, you could hear — if you listened very closely — the heart-voices and wheels of the bus singing, “If we all pull together, together, together … If we all pull together, how happy we’ll be!” I suspect that we will have a chance to do this all again, on an even larger scale. This was a practice run. But, I hear my heart saying the song of collaboration will be sung.