There are many moving parts in the building and maintaining of a vital community. At times a peek behind the curtain reveals issues we don’t like to deal with in the forefront of our lives, but they impact all we do and need to be addressed.

A recent case in point is a behind the scenes look at the local mission, and its focus on feeding the homeless and helping the downtrodden. Drawing the curtain back and seeing how facilities operate, the kinds of services provided, and the kind of meals served is an important part of understanding how any community service program works.

It seems there is still unease in walking, for even a few minutes, in someone else’s shoes – an unwillingness to even sit at a table where meals are served to people with greater challenges than our own, for the sole purpose of gaining an understanding of the issues affecting the community.

Helping the elderly, infirm, homeless, and poverty stricken is a non-partisan issue. We may not like that the services are needed in our community, or any community, but needed they are. Elected community leaders are facing some very tough choices in how the less fortunate are helped and cared for. Budgets are tight, revenue is down, and money is being spent on a variety of priorities we have all sought and fought for. It is a tough time. Those hoping to be community leaders now and in the future need to be informed as to the nature and depth of any problem they may face.

It is absolutely time to be looking at how we fund and support social programs in the community, truly consider priorities, and seek innovative ways to provide help as needed. We are in economic times that do not allow us to maintain the status quo, changes are inevitable and are rolling in at a pace faster than current systems are able to respond.

These kinds of issues are not conservative and liberal, they are community issues, but they are also budgetary and resource issues. Realism in resourcing priorities is needed. We are asking government and non-government agencies to provide the same level of services we are accustomed to with less money, knowing full well the cost of providing services inevitably rises and the budgetary pie from which slices are taken is shrinking. Is that realistic?

Maybe a new look at old problems is in order, a new look with an eye to changing the status quo, an intentional look by a broader base of people who can expand the various approaches to solving the problem, whatever the problem is. This is not pointed at elected leaders (but take what you will from it); it is directed to individuals who have raised their hand and expressed an interest in growing into a community leadership role.

Maybe putting more heads together and not fearing the discussion and potentially uncomfortable emotions surrounding issues we wish were not present in our community is a good thing.

Maybe it is just time to sit and have lunch at the mission so the “normal” point of view changes.