Wheelchair accessible

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path...2 Corinthians 6:3a

Do you remember when restaurants to entertain their younger clientele would provide crayons and a 'what's wrong with this picture' drawing exercise, where you had to identify the 10 or 12 things wrong with the picture? There would be the bird hanging upside down on a tree branch, or the horse with too many legs, or a house with no front door, or a tree with its roots in the air.

I was thinking of this after visiting with Gordie yesterday. Kept asking myself the question: 'What's wrong with this picture?" Not just that there's someone sleeping outside on a street grate, but outside with his wheelchair, which if he were nod off anyone could steal.

Some people see Gordie, or "Wheels" as he is affectionately known, as a stumbling block, a street obstacle in the way of pedestrian traffic.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is we - we our society, we our government, we the grown-ups - who are the stumbling block for as long as we continue to offer no bed for Gord other than the sidewalk.

We can do better. It's going to cost us. But it is more than worth it, not only for Gord's sake but for ours. A city is only as good as it is to its most vulnerable.