Exude Some Love

Homelessness
- Laura Dowling, Exploris Middle School, Raleigh, NC

The cold breeze
Running through the trees
Everyone is cozy and warm
Except those who sleep by the trees

We don't realize they are out there
But they are there somewhere

They feel the heat and the cold
while we just sit, the outside is cold

All they do is moan
For a home


According to the annual Point in Time count released yesterday, homelessness in the Triangle has increased. The 2007 count showed 1,806 homeless men, women, and children living in Durham, Orange, and Wake counties. That's up from 1,720 in 2006 - and doesn't include folks who may be sleeping on a friend's couch or temporarily staying with a family member.

Each one of those 1,806 numbers is a person, a fellow member of our community, someone's child, someone's friend. As a columnist in today's paper said:

"On this day when we can't help but ponder the meaning of love, let's try to take the great bond of love common to all humanity and seek a deeper, more meaningful expression of that love, an expression that take us us beyond Valentine's, roses, and teddy bears. Let's try to exude love in how we treat each other. "

On this day we're thankful for the love we have in our lives, the strength of our bodies, the warmth of our homes. We hope you are too.