Open letter to Baker City:

The Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” — is a teaching common to all of the world’s cultures and religions. It is worded differently, but the meaning is the same.

Are we here in Baker City, Oregon, living up to this if we fail to provide shelter for the homeless in our community? Is it enough for us to say that there is shelter up the road in La Grande, and they can get there easily? How easy is it to get there at a time like Monday morning, December 27, 2021, at 6 a.m., when the temperature had dropped to 6 degrees?

I invite each of us to step outside and try to keep warm, either at night or in the early morning, when it is cold outside. Do this for even a short a time as 15 minutes. How long would YOU wish to be outside? How would you wish to be treated if you had no home to go to, no place to find warmth, or food, or just a little compassion?

Please think about what your spiritual teacher would advise you to do as you contemplate how we will treat our neighbors who are without shelter.

Will we shelter them?

Or will we simply say “go on down the road?”

George Wheaton

Baker City