Sage Lewis

Finding Light in the Shadows: My Journey Through a Protest Camp

—

by

Sage
in , ,

In a world that often feels dark, the smallest kindnesses reveal the light we carry within.

As a person who experiences the suffering, hopelessness, and meaninglessness of life VERY deeply, it is absolutely critical for my mental well-being to acknowledge the WHOLE truth.

I spent 2 nights living in this tent during my one-person protest of this camp sweep.

I had written the mayor’s office about plans for sheltering ideas earlier. None of them had elicited a response. So I used this sweep as a way to draw attention to this cause. But I wanted to be more delicate than what I did with the last mayor.

The last time I did this, I built a 70-person tent city, got the interest of this big national law firm, Institute for Justice, and they then got me an interview with the New York Times. I think I embarrassed our last mayor. Akron had only been in the New York Times once or twice before. And now I was putting this guy on blast for being a homeless hater.

I know how to raise awareness. It’s like breathing for me. I could put a tent in the center of Main Street and Market Street right now and go viral pretty much instantly. But you have to be aware of what your direct action will do to the feelings of the people you are trying to inspire change. It’s a balance between inspiring action and insulting and embarrassing them to the point where they just shut down altogether.

So this time I tried for just a little awareness. I got a nice piece in the online edition of the Akron Beacon Journal. And I got to spend most of the day with the reporter, Doug Brown, who writes and photographs for the new online media outlet in Akron, Signal.

Homeless advocate criticizes Akron sweep, begins protest – Signal Akron

Sage Lewis urges city to talk about homelessness before winter comes – Akron Beacon Journal

That’s perfect!

Those reporters asked the mayor for a comment. This was their response:

So, I wrote this email:

And then I got this lovely email from Eufrancia Lash, Deputy Director of Public Service. He oversees neighborhood assistance.

We have a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, November 19, 2024, at 11:30 am.

My lifelong friend Jamie wrote and said, “You know he’s gonna just talk doublespeak at you for 15 minutes and then have you leave.”

I surround myself with truth-tellers. My wife is very similar.

I’ve never met this administration, so I can’t say precisely what the odds are of this happening for these people. But for government officials as a whole, I’d say the chance of getting that response is probably 60% likely. Maybe even closer to 70%.

But that’s not the full picture. Even if 30% means it’s unlikely that anything will change, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. 30% is 30%. It’s infinitely far away from 0%.

There were two prevailing feelings I took from my time in that tent a couple of weeks ago.

  1. I just can’t get out of my head how possible it is for someone to pummel you to death with a baseball bat in that tent. You can’t see anything. Your friends will walk up to your tent, and you will never hear them coming. It’s an incredibly vulnerable feeling.
  2. There is so much food!

Honest to God, I couldn’t eat it all.

People just kept bringing me back food from all these different places that came by to bring meals. On the two nights I was there, there was:

  • Rigatoni
  • Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
  • Pizza
  • Chips
  • Fruit cups
  • Drinks
  • Cookies

There was so much stuff I can’t even remember it all. I had to start turning it away.

And that was just the food that was delivered. I also missed cheese steak sandwiches at the Homeless Charity. Two churches had sit-down dinners that I couldn’t leave my protest tent for (and I was so full from all the other food that I had no room to eat these meals).

Then, Relentless brings truckloads of food from the food bank every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

I asked my friends if they ever went hungry. They said there are some days they wake up and aren’t sure what they’ll be eating. But it always shows up.

No. They are never hungry.

Let me also say, however, that my friend Aaron forgets to eat and then ends up starving for several days. He’s too deep in his mental illness to remember to eat. And this is just a small pocket. The homeless people living in the woods behind Super Walmart on Arlington usually end up stealing food from Walmart because they don’t have any resources.

But that truth does not negate the other truth.

I initially didn’t want to tell you about all this food. “If they know how ‘good’ it is they’ll stop giving.”

The reason I feel it is important to tell you this is so that you know that there is definitely good in the world. I see it constantly.

My friend and supporter, Margie, said that it is good to know that there is still goodness in humanity, when I told her about this food situation.

We must remember that goodness does exist. We can’t lie to ourselves and pretend it doesn’t exist. We must accept the whole truth.

There is good in the world. (I think it’s about 30% good and 70% selfish.)

The goodness flows from all sections of race, gender, political affiliation, and gender preference. I have found that the only consistently good group of people are low-income people. Not Christians. Certainly not liberals. Poor people. They will give you their last cigarette and the shoes off their feet if you need them. Everyone else is pretty much this 30-70 split. 70% are just out for themselves mostly, and 30% have evolved into something bigger than themselves.

It’s hard to look at a glass that is one-third full and see the positive. But it is for real. There is water in the glass. There is always water in the glass, no matter how dry it gets.

And that gets me to the moral of this whole story: YOU ARE THE WATER IN THE GLASS.

The people who are reading this post are the good people. That’s why you are reading it. I’m sure you feel like you could do more. I’m sure you feel like the world is a dark and scary place. But I just wanted to come on here and tell you that there is light. It always exists, and it comes from you and people like you.

You are more evolved beings. That’s not hyperbole. That’s just a matter of fact. People who can think bigger than themselves and do something about it are just more advanced beings.

I know what it feels like to be hopeless. Believe me. I know. But it’s simply not the entire story.

Just keep being you. It has an effect. You probably will never fully see the effect, but it is real. Just believe that.

If you are interested, here are the resources I’ve been working on for my meeting with the mayor and Eufrancia Lash.

A betting person would not bet that we will make any difference. But that doesn’t mean you don’t try. That doesn’t mean you don’t make every effort to move forward in some way. You always have to try. The world is filled with long-shot stories that came true against all odds.

I’m going to try my best. And most importantly, I won’t quit, no matter what.