Long day's journey...

It's so hot. Just went downstairs for a MINUTE to get my mail, and outside to throw something in the recycling bin...it was almost hard to get up the hill outside my building! And that once again broke my heart for street people. As I was reminded by a caring friend on Facebook, so many of the homeless are mentally challenged, or even have physical disabilities on top of that. I frequently see people riding motorized scooters, and I'm sure they're nice when the weather's good--but they hardly move fast enough to even create a breeze. What then for their riders, many of whom are amputees? To say nothing of those without homes who have no choice but the street or sidewalk for a place to go. Finding shade around here is hard enough for ME, as I run from shadow to shadow on my way some place. What if I couldn't walk well, or was forced to sleep on the street? How could I stay cool--even reasonably so? In the winter, a lot of big cities have warming centers. Does it follow that in the summer they have cooling ones? I really hope so. I can't imagine the struggle. Yesterday and today were so hot in the Grand Rapids area that it's free to ride the bus--an "Ozone Action" day. So I guess one option for a homeless or homeless disabled person would be to ride the bus all day to stay cool:( I'm grateful to my city on their behalf for doing that. One thing is for certain--you wouldn't catch me playing basketball in this heat, the way some of the kids I the shelter down below are! I hope they stay hydrated. There are so many concerns living in the city! Maybe I'm just realizing this now because I was heretofore very naïve. But you can not help but wake up to their struggles once you're here. Even if they FIND reliable shade...how do they get water? You can't just not drink water. I know the library has drinking fountains inside their (also air conditioned) building, but do the homeless? What if they're refused entry for one reason or another? An alcoholic would be DANGEROUSLY dehydrated on days like today...but I'm guessing he wouldn't be welcome with too much enthusiasm to mingle with the other library-goers--increasingly large numbers of children being among them:( Another thing to think about is, when I went outside for a bit, in addition to the heat, the air quality made it very hard for me. Even online weather forecasts caution that tree and grass pollen are at very high levels today, along with other pollutants that would clog up your through or just make the air seem...somehow...THICK. I can't imagine the difficulty if I had no choice to be out there walking around, looking for shade, looking for water. Urban jungle? Jungle suggests water. Urban desert:( I'll be doing a lot praying for strangers tonight.