Hurry up and wait

This piece was originally read at last year's Utah Arts Festival. It has been modified, but the gist is the same. It was also published in another blog.

I may seem hard on these organizations, but that is not my intent. I just want people to realize that there are a lot of hoops to jump through everyday to get anything. I am forever grateful that each and everyone of these organizations exists to help homeless people, and encourage anyone in need of any of their services to click on the links for contact information.

"Lines (or The Waiting)

I heard on a public radio talk show that the average person spends as much as 25% of their life waiting---in line for something---or just waiting for something to happen.

Nearly every day you're jammed in a line of cars on the freeway during rush hour, in line to enter or exit a public parking lot, in line at the post office, in line at your favorite lunch counter. Some people still wait in line for concert tickets. At the Cineplex or theatre or shopping mall there's always a line for the rest rooms. You wait for your tax refund to come every year. You wait for a taxi cab. You wait for your car to be repaired at the shop. You wait for the plumber or electrician or some other sort of repairman. And sometime between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM on any given day somebody somewhere is waiting for the cable guy.

I've done a lot of research on this and I think in the case of homeless people the waiting percentage is closer to 50%, perhaps higher. There is always an actual or virtual line in which to wait for even the most basic everyday needs that most others take for granted.

There is a waiting list to get into the emergency shelter. Average wait here in Salt Lake City to get a bed in The Road Home, our major shelter, is 12 days. Each evening you wait in line with other residents to check in, have your belongings searched, and scanned with a metal detecting wand. Each time you leave and re-enter, the process is repeated. There's often a wait for a shower or a sink in which to shave. The wait is not as long as at Weigand Center or the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake, two other places where you can clean up.

The Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City is nice enough to provide showers and clothing for non-residents three times a week. The line starts to form about an hour before they admit anyone. Once the doors are open, you wait inside for towels, soap, razors, toothpaste, toothbrushes and shampoo and such. You can wait in the clothing line for several minutes only to find there's nothing available in your size.

The Salt Lake City Mission serves coffee and donuts six days a week. The line starts to form on the street about an hour before they arrive to set up the tables. I discovered this event by stumbling upon a queue of several people just standing, waiting by the side of the street; a seeming line to nowhere for nothing. They often provide meals an holidays in Pioneer Park. This memorial Day, I waited in line an hour for a hot dog.

Salt Lake City Mission "providing real change, not spare change since 1993"

Wherever you go to eat, rest assured you'll be standing in line longer than you'll be eating. Lunch and dinner are served daily at the St. Vincent De Paul Center. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, inside, under the viaduct on Sundays, or in Pioneer Park on holidays, like Easter, and since the regular spots are closed for the holiday, the line will be longer than usual.

At Fourth Street Clinic you wait in line to make an appointment, sign in for your appointment, and to be seen the day of your appointment. If you get an appointment within two weeks of your initial visit, you're lucky.

Salt Lake Donated Dental now has a lottery to determine who'll be seen. You show up the day before, submit your name, then have to return the next day to see if your name is drawn.


Those are just the actual physical lines.

Subsidized housing in Utah has a waiting list of three to five years.


Social Security Disability claims can take two to five years to be approved. People die waiting for money they need, which they paid in their whole lives when they could work.

Of course there's standing in line to get the forms or to render required documentation or to submit to required medical tests or....

Everyday on the street takes great effort. This effort is necessary to survival, because the homeless who are inert, apathetic or lazy are quickly lost forever to the streets, or perish altogether. I know I was nearly there.

It's the waiting that's toughest. Waiting for the effort you exert every day to mean something. Waiting for someone to recognize how hard you're trying. Waiting for that day when you achieve that one small goal you set and your life finally improves a little bit. Waiting for that one person who truly loves you and believes in you and will help see you through all this.

It's the waiting. The waiting is the hardest part."

Send me your experiences, letters art work, poetry, stories.

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