THANKFUL FOR FAMILY, HEALTH AND KINDNESS OF STRANGERS
Having received our COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, my spouse and I are grateful during this ongoing pandemic for our health, each other and what seems like a tireless supply of health professionals who keep showing up in the face of incredibly difficult circumstances.
When I move past life’s basic necessities to reflect on the other areas of life for which I am thankful, I am drawn to those I personally witness offer a blend of compassion, partnership and dedication to so many in need. For example, November is Runaway and Homeless Youth Awareness Month, and I have seen community leaders I serve with on the San Diego Homelessness Consortium Steering Committee lean in this month to strengthen efforts to get more young people into homes with support and opportunity. Their compassion is contagious, and it has been exciting to see fresh opportunities for affordable homes and new beginnings materialize around the region.
The compassion those leaders show is being increasingly amplified by the empathetic San Diegans partnering to embrace solutions to help people who are unsheltered. I recently sat in an unincorporated East County community with a room full of neighbors who shared their personal commitment to help overcome the challenges of helping people in their own communities. Too often as a society, we reach to label and criticize others rather than to work together. I am deeply thankful to get to work with community members who are open to doing the hard work for meaningful, compassionate solutions.
As I reflect on our community, across all regions of San Diego County, I feel lucky — and thankful — to have so many partners in local governments, community groups and neighborhoods who are willing to work across boundaries to help those struggling. Snug in our homes, we can be unaware of the quiet, unglamorous commitment going on behind the scenes of government staffers, nonprofit leaders and our neighbors who work late and on weekends to find the common ground needed to improve our communities. I have the good fortune to see that partnership in action, and it gives me hope.
Each day I am deeply grateful for, and inspired by, the dedication of the people in the county’s new Department of Homeless Solutions and Equitable Communities who reach out directly to people experiencing homelessness. They climb under bridges, walk into riverbeds and connect on street corners, spending their days listening to people while respecting their dignity and humanity. When I tagged along with one of these teams the other day, it was humbling to witness both the genuineness in the interactions and the care for each person encountered long after we left a given location.
Sometimes, the suffering we see around us can feel overwhelming. For others, that suffering is direct and personal. When I give thanks this year, it will be the traditional appreciation of family and health, but also for being surrounded
by so many people who are earnestly committed to making a difference.