Toy Bridge: Tiny Holies

Teeny tiny saint statues are the bouillon cubes of sacramentals,
packing more power per gram than bigger trinkets. (So say I, because I like them the best.)

The littlest here, in the red cape on the Toy Bridge, below, is the Infant of Prague. The full-size IoP changes outfits for liturgical seasons, but it can't do it itself:
"The Carmelite Sisters dress the small Jesus" (more info here). Red is "the colour of blood and fire."

This is a big reason I'm Catholic: for the toys.
(I'm not always sure I'm Catholic, but I'm always sure about toys.)

Hm--I looked up the etymology of toy:
"Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here."

"there may be more than one word here"

A young woman at the store yesterday, with a couple rosaries to buy dangling from her hand, was asking me how to request help furnishing the new apartment she'll be moving into, especially with a bed.
She's the second woman recently to tell me about getting her life together.
A new life needs a place to sleep.

A lot of thrift stores don't carry beds--heavy, awkward, big, they're more trouble than they're worth. And being willing to accept used mattresses puts you in a tricky position:
"donors" (dumpers, really) try to offload their lumpy old pee-stained mattresses on you.

People actually get angry at the guys at the donations bay when they turn away mattresses or other filthy furniture. Some sneakily leave theirs outside after closing time. It costs money to dispose of them.
Trash is one of the store's biggest monthly expenses.

We do carry beds, but the store doesn't give out vouchers for free stuff---customers need to go through other agencies to get those.
As I said to the young woman, finding help is a full-time job.

"I'm trying everywhere," she said, and listed several places she's been.

Most people who badly need help don't have vehicles, of course, so they bus all over town to meet with social service agencies, and back again; and then there's the tangle of getting your furniture delivered.
Sometimes with little kids in tow;
sometimes while not feeling at all well... or feeling exhausted.

Often they're treated as a nuisance... because, honestly, desperation is a nuisance--"a person, thing, or circumstance causing inconvenience or annoyance"--and desperate people are often not at their best.
Confused, angry, frightened.
Thirsty! Sometimes people ask for water--writing this out makes me think I should remember to offer that.

And, if you don't squeak, your wheel doesn't get greased, so a lot of them are pushy, and is that ever effective.
It's not uncommon for one of the furniture guys to say, "I gave it to them for $– just to get them out of here."

This young woman was not pushy. She was tentative, but well spoken and well put together, except her face, which was wary, watchful.

My willingness to give a person time and attention depends on a lot of things, including if I've just had a nice lunch or not. I was not hungry, was in a good mood, and curious, even touched:
I was willing to spend extra time.

She told me some of her story--diagnosed bipolar ten years ago, unwilling to accept it at that time, now she is.

Less common, she asked me questions about the store, how it runs, and, way weirder, about Catholic theology.
I'd referred her to Incarnation Catholic Church for their aid and food shelf, and she asked me what "incarnation" meant, and whether Catholics believed in reincarnation.

No, I said, but they believe in the eventual resurrection of the body, at the End of Time...

Turns out, she was raised Jehovah's Witness. "It's a cult," she said. She told me they believe only 144K people will go to Heaven.
"I've been disfellowshipped though," she said, "and my family isn't allowed to talk to me or help me."

"That's too bad," I said. "Were you going to buy those rosaries?"

"Oh... yeah."

I reached for their price tags and took them off. "They're free," I said.
(I've mentioned here before that donated religious goods are supposed to be given away, but the store sells them anyway.) "I'll let the cashier know."

_____________

Here's my theology:

Life's hard.
Toys help.
There may be more than one Word here.