Our society has failed its most vulnerable citizens in many ways. I could go on a rant about several issues, but today I'd like to talk about community, and lack thereof.
I live in Denver, Colorado and, if you've never been here, it's hyper individualistic. The US in general is pretty individualistic, which you might not see as much of a problem, but the problems become clear when you see people turning a blind eye to the suffering of others and not standing together to support and help each other. This includes everything from pitifully low union membership numbers to people being anti-universal healthcare even though it would be cheaper and save lives, but let's talk about the more immediate, in-your-face kind of turning away: the way Americans treat homeless people.
The United States has roughly 600,000 rough sleepers, and that's before we see the true fallout of the eviction moratorium that was put in place due to the pandemic being cancelled, which will likely be unfolding in the coming months.
Now obviously, there are some who try and help - we're not completely devoid of community efforts, such as the previous photo of one of the Denver Community Fridges, or the Impact Humanity free store. We've got mutual aid orgs and individuals who do their best. But all you have to do is look at the people driving or walking by, avoiding eye contact with the homeless people with a sign, calling the cops on them for existing where they can see them, or bitching on Next Door about how they believe "they're all drug addicts" and "they should just get a job" (and when you point out to them that only 28% of homeless people in Denver have addiction issues and 60% of them have jobs or disability income, they call the statistics "biased" because they come from an org that - gasp - tries to help homeless people) to see the "turning away" that I am talking about. They would rather ignore them, blame them, and villainize them instead of have any compassion. I've spoken before about how I think part of this is because people know they are a few paychecks away from similar difficulty, so they convince themselves that as long as you work hard and don't do drugs it can't happen to you ...because otherwise they would be eaten up with worry about their own precarious place in the world. But that still doesn't excuse treating people like trash. The humane response to realizing that there is no safety net for people and you, too, could become sick or lose your job or something and be equally screwed, is to try and help as best you can, as you might hope that people would do for you. Everyone is deserving of help and dignity - yes, even if they struggle with addiction (and especially considering that if someone is rich and does drugs, they go to rehab and society forgives them).
Litte Free Pantry near Cheesman Park
Okay, so, if you've been around my blog for a while you may have read me talking about these subjects before, so what prompted today's post?
Well, this past Sunday I heard a lady outside singing very loudly and offkey. I thought maybe a neighbor was drunk on their balcony at first, but then I peeked out my window and saw someone setting up blankets on the ground. Since I was cooking, I went ahead and made her a cheeseburger, and threw together a little care package of a burger, ginger ale, cookies, bathing wipes, and a first aid kit.
I'm not going to get into details here because I am against taking photos of people you help and such since I feel that's very exploitative, but the tl;dr is that she was very obviously mentally ill and unwell, though nice and non threatening, just weird (but I'm weird and mentally ill, so that's not a judgement there). She was very happy about the care package, and after we parted, she was quiet for a little bit (I hope that meant she was eating), but then went back to singing for several hours, and then she slept in that spot overnight (and she didn't have a tent, either). In the morning, as I was feeding the cats, I heard her shout "fuck you, bitch" at someone and looked outside to see her packing up her gear. So I ran down with some cereal and orange juice so she might have a breakfast, only to find two cop cars parked there overseeing her packing up and leaving. I did give her her breakfast, which she was again happy about, and she left shortly after.
Part of me was grateful that my neighbors let her be long enough to sleep peacefully for one night before anyone called the cops on her (I'm guessing that's maybe who she screamed at in the morning), but part of me was also annoyed that anyone had at all. I mean, yeah, she was loud, but so are many of my housed neighbors throwing parties or blasting their stereo - and that's not to mention the CONSTRUCTION NOISE that we are constantly putting up with here. One woman singing a tone deaf rendition of White Wedding on the street is hardly the loudest noise on the block.
Why didn't any of my other neighbors also come out to help? I am on a block of mid- and highrise apartment and condo buildings. There are literally hundreds of people all around me. I'm the only one who saw fit to help out someone who obviously needed it? Instead, someone called and complained instead of helping? Why wasn't there an army of neighbors lining up with food, blankets, a tent, water, something?
People have often asked me when I do random acts of kindness or chalk messages on the sidewalk some variant of, "Do you do this because of Jesus?" They are always floored when I tell them that no, I'm a Pagan. I know that there are some good Christians who try and help, but there are also a lot of them who are prosperity gospel, God-has-blessed-me-because-I'm-good-and-deserving-so-if-you're-not-blessed-you-must-be-bad types. Well, I know we have our share of Pagan assholes too, but in Pagan culture there's a big emphasis on hospitality. A "sin" to us isn't having pre-marital sex or something, it's letting someone starve on your doorstep (in antiquity, that's sometimes how people would seek justice; they would camp out and fast on the doorstep of someone who had wronged them, which shamed that person until they made things right). When did it become acceptable to literally be able to see a hungry, homeless person who is obviously unwell out your window and just ignore them? I understand that we don't always have the resources to help - I often don't, as I struggle to survive myself - but I'm poor for my neighborhood, so I'm sure plenty of people on my block are way richer than me who could have helped.
Where do they expect she'll be able to go? Obviously there isn't enough help for people or we wouldn't have 600,000 rough sleepers in this country. This woman is obviously not going to be able to hold down a job. If there were roaming social workers signing people up for medicaid and getting them into a nursing home/assisted living type facility if that's what they need, there wouldn't be so many ill people on the streets (I used to work at a nursing home, we had our fair share of shouters, it was just par for the course). This lady was obviously not going to be able to navigate the maze of bureaucracy in order to access help - hell, I often can't navigate that obstacle course very much designed to make sure that those who really need it, probably don't get it. This wasn't a case where you could conceivably imagine that a person could get help if they wanted it, and they "chose" to live that way (another ridiculous talking point I often encounter; yes, people often choose the street over the shelter because it's safer, but they would choose an apartment or a room over the street if they could access one).
When a society has more people who turn away - or make things worse! - rather than help those already suffering, that society has failed. What are we if we don't take care of each other? How can you not care about other people? Don't you want people to care about you, even if you've made mistakes or had a run of bad luck? Would you want everyone to turn their backs on you just when you needed them most?
I sure wouldn't. And I invite everyone who victim blames rather than helps to truly consider how they would feel if they were in that position (and don't tell me "that could never happen to me" because I promise you unless you are a crypto millionaire for some reason reading my blog while you sit on your thousands of Bitcoin and lambos, you are way closer to the homeless than the ultra wealthy).
Individualism is fine in a be yourself, walk your own path, march to the beat of your own drum, don't conform kind of way; but when we take that to the extreme of being devoid of compassion for other human beings, we've gone too far.
Go forth, help each other, stick together. We need each other.
