At home after a Sunday lunch - 1990s

The conscience of crisis

Extracts of a speech delivered by John at Southwark Cathedral, 7th December. 2002 as part of the CRISIS Carol Service

This evening at Southwark is a time for joy and reflection, and for looking at the conscience of crisis. Some will know each other from working at the coalface of CRISIS, ’Fighting for hope for homeless people’. Some make this possible by funding; others rattle the tin, gently persuading funders to empty their wallets. There’s a few who’ve come tonight for a mince pie or three.

What is the conscience of crisis? Without conscience a crisis will not be addressed. It has to do with Faith, honesty, clear values and a lack of corruption.

It was arguably John Bird’s conscience and anger, which prompted him to write ‘so what we have is the shame, the tragedy, of the mentally ill and of substance abusers dying before our eyes. We have to act for all, not only for some’.

We can cross the street away from a crisis, unlike the Samaritan who stayed to help. Everyone who wants to help those reduced to ageing carcasses by drink, drugs, AIDS, Hepatitis C needs their own conscience.

Having worked with the homeless, those crippled by substance abuse and with mental health problems, I have tremendous empathy with their state of crisis. Blank faces, matted hair, glazed eyes with dilated or pinpricked pupils. Unkempt draped in blankets, with rib cage dogs lying beside them. Then the Big Issue seller heartens me as I walk past, saying ‘I’ll keep one for you, Guv’.

The overriding emotion, trust, has to come into play. On occasion trust is there, in the eyes, right from the start. More often it is something which takes time and patience to build. For the person who has reached the pavement, there is a hidden agenda of abuse, lack of humanity and most likely broken trust. They live on the last vestiges of survival – little else. The doe-eyed dog is not there to pull at our heartstrings. It fulfils the need to have something to hold onto and care for – lack of care is a black hole in what’s left of life.

I decided to try and help – don’t ask me how.

The reward should not need spelling out. If it does, talk with someone working with CRISIS, and you will mostly find you’re talking to a fellow human being who has found peace of mind.

Thank you all.

John Klue, 7th December 2002

John never knew the meaning of the word retire. His energies drove him ceaselessly into project after project at a pace challenging for someone half his age.

During the last few years, he dedicated his time to a range of London charities, especially those supporting the homeless or those suffering from drug or alcohol problems.

He used his lifetime of business training and skills to bring support to many organizations including:

• Ace of Clubs - the support centre and charity in Clapham
• Cardboard Citizens - the theatre workshop for the homeless
• Creative writing workshops - that he helped support in Clapham, Hammersmith and Hackney
• Crisis - the London-based homeless charity
• Crossroads - the support charity in Hackney
• HUSH – the new Homeless Union for Self Help he was helping to launch with Crisis
• NABS - the support charity for the advertising industry
• Open Door - the peer support group he helped set up for Hackney Mental Health
• St John’s - the support centre and charity in Hackney
• And various groups for teaching English and ESOL including those for children and adult students in the Kurdish community in Hackney

For more information on these or to make donations please use the details on the 'Contact the family' page.