Vanguard Revisited - GLBT Historical Society

Tenderloin in the Loneliness
Loneliness is something that everyone experiences at some point. Whether it’s from the
nagging reminders in high school from bullies, from holidays spent alone, from the yellow
remnants of bruises from parents or loved ones or from the lack of serotonin in the brain,
I believe the greatest poverty issue San Franciscans of all income levels face is loneliness.
As someone with relatively rugged mental health and a very public career, surrounded by hundreds
of homeless, hungry and faithful folk each week, I often feel even lonelier when surrounded
by people who have seemingly endless need, without any real knowledge of my truest self.
Living in the Tenderloin for more than seven years now, I’ve discovered that there are
times when the Tenderloin makes the loneliness easier. It’s a neighborhood that wears
its loneliness, perversion, poverty and sexuality on its sleeve. Sometimes the grime
and the grit reminds me, that even in my deepest loneliness, I am still very well off.
But I also see, in those who call me pastor, that the Tenderloin’s above and underground
economies are designed to feed off of the loneliness, destitution and desperation of the lonely
souls who have been thrown away by families, society and in some cases their congregations.
If you have resources, access to mental health care, some luck and truckloads of inner
strength, you will find that the Tenderloin is a cure to loneliness. If you don’t, the
Tenderloin will demand all that you have, put a red light in your window, will forget
your name and will treat you like you’re dead until one day you have become one of
the disappeared whom either got housing in public housing or in a mansion in the sky.
Benevolent Uncle (God), I pray for those who are lonely, that they may have hope. I call
for an end of the delusion that anything will solve homelessness, other than housing. God,
remember your promise to bring justice to the weak, orphaned and persecuted. Bring health
and protection to all the hustlers, panhandlers, lost and forgotten. Restore compassion to
politicians, police officers and business owners who have the power to shape the short
and long term futures of the poor and oppressed. Bless the residents of the Tenderloin!
Pastor Megan Rohrer 2011
1:8 1967
1:4
1966
3:1
1970