Time to Dance

"Are you still dancing in depravity?" an old friend asked me. This is how my book "Why the Homeless Don't Have Homes and what to do about it" begins. This is the only book that I've written that won an award. I'm convinced it was because I use the image of dance all of the way through it.

ALl of these years later, it remains a good description of what I do for a living. Surrounded by depravity I remain convinced that people should dance.

Now to dance you have to put your heart in it or you just go through the motions. And when I find myself in those times when I can't seem to put my hand on my heart, then I long for when I can dance again. This is where I am today.

I work very hard on behalf of those who don't have too many others pulling for them. At Union Mission we add structure, accountability, and love to lives that have lost these things.

Once, many years ago, my friend and musician Chuck Courtenay, came to Grace House and we threw a New Year's Eve dance. He played and I can still see homeless men and women dancing. Chuck's wife Vicky coached those who lacked confidence and Julie and I threw ourselves around the cafeteria floor so that the night did not lose momentum.

There was no homelessness that night. AIDS was somewhere else. Addictions were locked away for a while. These things were replaced with smiles and laughter and movement.

So I am longing to dance today. I am tired of the funk of a broken heart. I want to swirl and twril and hold onto my partner. And I want to smile. So Chuck, send out a song for me today. It is time for me to move again.