...folks from the south just might not choose to relocate in the Snow Belt.

There was a news item last night about 1200 displaced former NO residents who were supposed to come to our nearest fair mid-size city for relocation. They didn't want to. Thay wanted to be in the south. Who can blame them? Why get sent to this part of the world, this place that might as well be Timbuktu, when maybe you can go someplace considerably warmer and with a less hostile economic environment? If you have family here, that is one thing, but otherwise...

There are members of my congregation who will not rest until we are sheltering a family. I have mixed feelings about this. We are located in an exurban/rural area that is fairly affluent and extremely white. I worry for folks who would move here--for the culture shock that they might endure. (Think snow-tires, snow shovels, special devices to thaw out frozen locks, engine block heaters, outerwear that can endure 30 degrees below zero F., etc. Things we take for granted here.)

And I can't pretend that racism/segregation does not exist here, even among well-meaning folks. Not only that, but we have a lousy excuse for a public transportation system here--so to shelter a family, we absolutely must be willing to provide them with a car that they can drive as they need to--because if we shelter a family that is African-American, for example, they will have to travel 20 miles to find hair care products that are suitable. Yes, it's that white.

And yet at the same time, I wonder--how do we combat racism by keeping people separated? We don't. Separate but equal is not equal--I think history has taught us that.

My people-pleasing, peacemaking, bleeding-heart self just wants people to be able to live where they want to. And for us all to just get along.

Is that too much to ask? Time to pray.