On September 20th, a man named David Malloy was run over by a train here in Ventura. If you live around here, you probably either knew him as “JD”, or just another nameless and occasionally annoying homeless guy on the street, depending on how you’ve become accustomed to viewing people.
JD was a vital part of a community known as “the bridge” here in Ventura; a community that has recently experienced the loss of several people we care about a lot. Each of these people has left a differently shaped hole in our lives, and JD is no exception. Since learning of his passing Sunday morning, there have been several disorganized thoughts in my head that I felt like putting out here for all to share. If any of these offend you, please excuse me.
- For me, JD was a frequent reminder of the centrality of the poor in the message of the gospel, in the midst of a culture that tries to marginalize them as much as possible
- I loved how he always kept coming back, and he didn’t let the fact that you may not have thought you had time to listen to him at any given moment dissuade him from relating a long story to you that usually didn’t make much sense. The funny thing is that when you actually did listen and decipher what he was saying, it was pretty funny stuff sometimes, especially his accounts of “guarding the turf” around the b building.
- I will always remember leading worship during the Sunday gatherings and looking down and seeing him laying on the monitor, either trying to play along with his harmonica or just savoring the experience.
- His inability to overcome his addiction is a reminder to me of the position in which every one of us stands before God, constantly being forgiven. I remember some people relating to me their questions about why we would allow an intoxicated person to enter the gatherings, and I remember asking why we should allow anyone to enter, except for the grace of God that covers us all.
- I am again reminded of (and frustrated by) our city’s policy towards the homeless population. It goes beyond social stigma and the subliminal discriminatory attitudes of the general population, and involves the active decisions and stated goals of the city council and the police department to get them the f… out of town. It’s pretty sick when you think about a city that is as wealthy as Ventura being filled with pride to the point of looking at people in this situation and inhumanly labeling them as “the homeless problem”.
There is more to say, but that will have to do for now.
7 Comments
In a rare appearance here by me, I would add that the last time I spoke with JD was in early Sept. and he actually remembered my name. It was incredible to me in that I hadn’t had any one on one interaction with him since a work day about 1 year ago. He worked very hard that day and was always willing to do something for the bridge.
That recent wednesday night he talked about how he always would give God some money when he had it, through the bridge.
It was great to have him interupt at the bridge gatherings also, being someone who fights against ritual, I welcomed it and Greg would introduce him and ask him to wait or address his issue or whatever. It was awesome.
I loved seeing him worship at the bridge and could see him pouring out his heart sincerely to God. It seemed as though his face became kinder and softer as time went by.
It sucks that he is gone, but I guess good as I believe he is in heaven.
Thanks; good to hear from you.
10-4, I like your rememberances of JD. The guy went around and touched many of us in so many ways.
I didn’t know JD but I do know this: His life and existence is just as precious to God as those others we have lost in recent years. I’m sorry for another loss of a priceless friendship at The Bridge.
I think, your observation about the City of Ventura is just another example of how the “justice” of the governments of this world, built on man’s self centeredness, cannot compare with God’s government, which is built on “Mercy and Grace”. In God’s government, JD is as valuable as the mayor.
I agree about the government issue; it’s just really frustrating to me that a governmental structure which claims to represent the people it governs, a vast majority of whom claim to be “Christians”, still behaves like this. And, like I said above, I’m not just talking about some generic feeling of apathy or neglect, but rather an outright policy against them. There are other nearby cities (Santa Barbara) who handle the situation much better.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know. Would be interesting to see what their policies are and how they implement them. I’m sure there are alot of places that do it better than others. I really don’t know what Venutura’s stated policy is. I know we are not at all welcoming. But then we aren’t welcoming to anyone really. I mean we don’t even try to tap the tourist trade here. I guess the “city” sees us as a bedroom community. I guess we’re just supposed to sleep. Anything that disturbs our sleep gets an ordinance.
I didn’t know where else to post this because I don’t think that I can leave a message on your tagboard for some reason.
Did you hear that another homeless man was found dead in Ventura? Well, I just now got on VC STar’s website but they have already erased the story! I guess it doesn’t matter to them.
What I remember about the story I read in the paper: they said a transient had been found dead of unknown causes near the riverbed. They didn’t give a name or anything.