Homelessness in Perspective...

There are several posts about homelessness today, most of them written far more beautifully and more evocatively than I can muster.

I have some strong feelings about the issue as most do, but mine might be a bit different than what you'll read elsewhere.

I think of the root of the problem. Why would any society allow people to live on the streets like soi dogs, begging for food, water, medical care or housing?

And what does that say about the society?

For those of us who already know, what can we do to help? What can we do to create the social change that is necessary to alleviate that type of suffering? And should we even concentrate on that at all?

Equally important, how do we deal with the problem in the short-term - to keep people alive while the long term can be examined and the time can be given for cultural change to take place?

Why do we help homeless people? We help them because we know at the root that we are not separate and they need the help. Ultimately, there is no larger objective. We help them because they need help and because we can.

We don't need to evaluate each case and decide who is deserving and who is not. We don't need to put conditions on it. We don't need to lord it over another human being and say "I think you deserve help because you fit the criteria of my personal judgement system but your friend Sam just doesn't cut it". We need to do it because we are human beings and we need to do it because that's Right Action.

In the larger sense, we all need to make some decisions about policies; local, state and national. If government is truly (as porported) a reflection of the collective will, what are the policies saying about the priorities of any given society? If the US democratic system works as it is said to work, George Bush didn't get any power in a vacuum. His values and priorities reflected the values and priorities of the majority.

Meanwhile, in any society, US or not, the first thing and most important thing we can control is our own way of existing in the world. We can use these larger social issues as a distraction for what needs to be done right now - or we can realize that the small things we might do as individuals will finally reflect in a larger sense.

Depending on what you believe our purpose in living might be, your actions or lack of actions will reflect that. If you believe as I do, that we are all responsible for alleviating suffering wherever we find it, actions will reflect that, too.

So it's really rather simple. Feed a homeless person. Give a few bucks when you can without attaching to the outcome. If that person uses it for something we might not approve of, that's not for us to decide. Detach from what happens beyond the immediate action.

Listen to a homeless person. Understand and realize his or her common humanity. They are just like you and me. We are just like them.

Acknowledge his or her humanity. Be kind. It seems that homeless people become objectified and "othered" to an extent that they don't seem quite real.

When all is said and done, Jesus was right. What we do to and with each other is a reflection of who we are. When we do to Others, we do to ourselves.

That's my two cents.

What's yours?

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