Listener

It’s been a long couple of Covid years but I will soon return as a volunteer at the men’s homeless shelter, 2100 Lakeside in Cleveland. Something new … I will be there as a listener … two chairs, facing each other in a secluded hallway, and a sign: “Do you want to talk?” There are about 350 men in the shelter at any given time. Any one of them might set himself down and tell me about the Browns or Cavaliers or whatever it may be. The conversation may start there, but it will move along to wherever it needs to be.