she stumbled through the subway car asking people for change with a confidence i haven't seen in many having to do the same.

i pulled out the tims card i had in my bag for this very purpose and called her over. she smiled, let out a big "YAY!" and sat down beside me as if she were content with this very small gift. she looked at me, grinned from ear to ear and started speaking to me in french. then english. then spanish.

"you're very bright," i told her. "it's really hard to be able to speak in many languages."

"i'm a writer", she said. "i write about street culture."

she told me her name and told me that i could find her writing on the internet. i promised i'd look her up and read her stuff once i had service again (which i did); she thanked me for the tims' card once again, and before we went our separate ways, she turned around and told me that she would never forget my face.

"i won't forget yours either, shannon", i said before she disappeared. i wondered if any one else would have the chance to see just how brilliant and grateful this lady was despite her appearance. looks can be deceiving, after all.

ten minutes later, i found myself taking part in church of the holy trinity's monthly service to honour all of those who have lost their lives to homelessness and/or drug addiction the past four weeks. it took me all of ten seconds to notice that i was standing on a sidewalk full of names (and well wishes) that were very carefully and thoughtfully written in chalk - their very own 'guest book', if you will. unsurprisingly to me, there were a lot of 'john and jane does'; it seemed fitting that our new friend don approached the mic to recite a poem he had written to remember all of the 'unnamed' people who had passed away on our very own streets.

"i miss you, jane", he said before passing the mic onto someone else. his passionate cry didn't fall on deaf ears. not mine. not my interns. not the countless other people who showed up to remember, either. his cry, in fact, tugged at our hearts.

the next guy spoke of justice and let us all know that he has invited, and will continue to invite, john tory, rob ford and justin trudeau to these monthly gatherings in hopes that they can see the impact our broken system has on this population, meet the people affected by it and give us some answers.

"we want answers", they said.

and you know something? so do i.

i want to know why there are 5,000 people living in our shelter system and/or on the streets or why housing is so unaffordable. i would like to know why food banks are running low on food and why brilliant friends like shannon are pacing the subway begging for spare change.

my students and i continued this conversation for a bit this afternoon. it's one thing to hand out socks and sandwiches and serve at different organizations that do the same (all of which are important), but it's another thing to stand in the gap, be a voice for the voiceless, and fight our broken system head on. truth be told, we're not exactly sure how to do this quite yet, but one thing's for sure: we stand with every jane and john doe, every shannon, and every last one who showed up to mourn, remember, and cry out for justice today.