Blankets in the park

Strangers watching out for others
London, ON
November 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I’m walking through Gibbons Park, a jewel of carefully crafted nature that stretches between the river to its west and some rather tony real estate to the east.

I’m ostensibly looking for any last remnants of leaves, anything, really, that grabs my eye in the few minutes I have before the real world beckons me back.

But it isn't leaves that jump out at me. It's a carefully rolled up scarf hanging off the end of a park bench. The tag attached to it says it all: "I am not lost. Take me if you need me."

I look around, and see similar packages - mittens, hats, blankets - on other nearby benches.

Part of me wants to cry, that in a city where the average home sells for seven figures and the ones on the hill overlooking this park easily sell for multiples of that, folks not too different from you or me continue to wrestle with homelessness.

And yet...

Some kind soul thought to look out for others in this subtle, non-judgmental way. Indeed, heroes live among us.

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