This has been a cold start to winter even for Ballarat’s chilly standards. The hassle of getting the ice from the windscreen with numb hands or even being caught on a windy corner as an arctic blast buffets the street makes us all appreciate the warmth of home. It is worth reflecting there are still many - too many - who have no such refuge from the cruel elements. A moment of empathy to feel just how basic this want is goes a long way toward recognising the problem.
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The weather and being without a roof over one’s head is a great leveler. Indeed this ancient problem has nothing new about it except our renewed indifference to the numbers and the complexity of the problems that brought them to such an abject state. Few can put it better than Shakespeare himself;
“Poor naked wretches, where so ever you are - that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm - how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you from seasons such as these?”
The great bard suggested that Kings themselves should expose themselves to feel what the homeless feel and if by recognising the superfluity of their wealth or even just their common humanity with the wretched then they would help to bring about a more just world.
Without at all discounting the complexity of the causes The Courier believes sleep-outs by CEO’s are one small step toward this awareness and applauds the efforts of welfare agencies who try to ensure that no one at all is left without a roof under winter skies.
