Get home safe

It happens almost every night.

I shut off the computer,
turn out the light,
and leave the office.

I walk down the hall to the elevator
and push the call button.

When the cab arrives, I push "1" and head downstairs.

Hector is always there to see me out.

Sometimes we talk about weather or family.
Often we talk sports.
[Conversations got interesting when
my Steelers beat his Jets.]

Then I head for the door,
and I hear Hector's final words:
always the same
always in the same, kind voice:

"Good night, Marko.
Get home safe."

Get home safe.

We live in a world where so many have not a home but
a tent in a refugee camp
a blanket in the back of a car
a cot in a shelter
a mattress in a brothel
a root of a tree
a spot on a subway grate;

a world where so many homes endure unsafe situations:
domestic violence
sex trafficking
war
exploitation
persecution
occupation

In such a world, Hector's words come as
a blessing
a benediction
a prayer that the day may soon dawn . . .
and a challenge that we work for that day . . .
when
every one has a home
every home is safe
and we all travel there safely.

Get home safe.

May it be so.

Comments

[Anitra Kitts]

tonight my 16 year old step son headed out in his car to his evening class. I bid him "be safe." And the I thought about that and I added. "Or be dangerous but whatever you are, just come home." and he laughed and walked out the door. It's 8:50 p.m. and in somewhere between 25 minutes and...eternity... I'll find out which one it was.

May it be so. May it be so for all our beloved. And also so for the ones God and only God calls beloved.

Thank you