I wrote these words at a gathering to remember Margaret Jacobson, a Hamilton woman made homeless whose story was chronicled by my friend, reporter Denise Davy, in her important and compelling book “Her Name Was Margaret; Life and Death on the Streets.” I hoped to honour the totality of her life; her strength and resiliency, as well as her struggles, her suffering and the ways she was failed.
Margaret
Everyone deserves to be remembered, remembered for the best in them
Remembered for the music in their soul, for how hard they tried
For the life they gave, for their early promise and undying dignity
For their determination and sheer will to live
For the way they struggled to be understood
For their perseverance in holding their heard high
While so much around them fell away.
As we remember Margaret, we honour her spirit
And acknowledge the hardships she faced were many and not of her own making.
We honour her resilience, her strength, her determination
In circumstances that might have brought any of us down.
Her spirit is long freed from those hardships, but now lives in us
The spirit to advocate, to educate, to tell her story,
To understand what happened and what needs to happen.
To work for change, to call for compassion, witness,
Dignity and help for all who suffer the twin burdens she bore –
of mental illness and homelessness.
To admit that she was failed and that we are our sister’s keeper.
To rededicate ourselves to all the “Margarets” out there.
To let her voice speak through us
To let the voices of all the voiceless speak through us
In our words and our actions, in our passion and our compassion.
It is remembering that makes us human.
It is in remembering Margaret
That we restore her humanity to its rightful place.
Love is forever.
Dignity is forever.
Worth is forever
We honour her memory and rededicate ourselves
To the lessons of her life and the tragedy of her death.
*Her name was Margaret and we remember her.
Words spoken at a service of remembrance 20 years after the passing of
Margaret Jacobson, who lived and died on the streets of Hamilton
* “Her Name Was Margaret; Life and Death on the Streets.” by Denise Davy 2021