Wearing neon and Plexiglas wings, and dragging my battery around in a shopping cart as I went from site to site, I volunteered full shifts at the Good Shepherd food bank (135 Mary Street) run by Brother Terrence as a Food Room Assistant , and at Emmanuel House, (90 Stinson Street) a 10-bed palliative care residence offering physical, emotional, spiritual and supportive care for those with terminal illness.
Good Shepherd Centres of Hamilton is administered by a Catholic order of Brothers whose motto" Charity Unlimited" is demonstrated through service to thousands of people throughout the year. Good Shepherds Centers' emergency programs meet clients immediate needs of food, clothing, shelter and rehabilitative programs restore clients' sense of dignity and hope. The brothers provide all services free of charge without regard to race, religion or national orgin.
The performance took place in the city of Hamilton for one week.
The idea for Reconciliation was born of the tragedy of Sept. 11th and my helplessness with the inadequacy of art in the face of death and tragedy.
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, talks about the images we now possess since Sept. 11th as archetypal and as unforgettable as the tower of Babel. "The Titanic that could not be destroyed. David against Goliath. ( A fifth world country successfully attacking Numero Uno) The implicit connotation of the destruction of the temple where 25% of the world's financial institutions were represented in one place. The Frankenstein syndrome where something you create comes back to destroy you."
I was struck by the last two stanzas of a poem Rohr recounts by the Persian mystic poet Hafiz:
"Something missing in my
heart tonight
Has made my eyes so soft,
my voice
So tender,
My need of God
Absolutely
Clear."