Mind Wide Shut

02/22/2005
I overheard one person say to another, "Last night I saw some homeless folks sitting in the drenching rain drinking". The other person responded, "you'd think they would go to the Shelter rather than sit out in the pouring rain".
It occurred to me that these folks knew as little about the actual problems facing the homeless as they know about the extreme difficulties of procuring a space within a "Homeless Shelter". The world would like to ignor the millions of folks without a place to call their own. However, thanx to the consistency of our national economic policy, the realities of deprivation are becoming a far more familiar reality. Even though the aforementioned conversationists were very much off base in their assumption that those soaked homeless drinkers were intentionally sitting in a downpour, they were nevertheless familiar enough with the reality of the homeless being everpresent so as to accept the fact that these folks are everywhere; even in "my" neighborhood.
The fact is, homelessness has stricken millions, and the numbers will only grow larger, as long as the White House and the Congress turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this epidemic which clearly has presented itself in every corner of these United States. It appears all the more pitiful when we consider the over-abundance of federally owned land available for both temporary and permanent housing. What need we preserve more ... plants, animals, or humans? Are we a nation concerned with its citizenry, or are we simply 'thinning the herd'? A decision must be forthcoming, to seek out that which improves civilization, as opposed to this present system of disgarding the unwanted. When we seek the well-being of each and every American (rather than that of the few wealthy, or a sturdy tax base), then and only then will we know the grace that can live up to the noble words of our American Constitution. Until then, more and more souls will be observed, and ignored, sitting in the rain.