thanksgiving 2006
I remember —
:::This day::: so clearly.
Thanksgiving in Hollywood. Circa 2006. I had places I could be. I wasn’t. I was almost Ground Zero Hollywood & Vine. Walking to the store for some forgotten item —
I remember cold. I remember abandoned pale concrete sidewalks. And I remember silent shadows in doorways. EVERY doorway. All the way down that pale concrete sidewalk. Unmoving. Alone. Forgotten. So still they did not appear human. Except they were. Human. And utterly silent. Unmoving. Uncomplaining about a present and future so bleak it injured me passing it.
When will we change this? When will we feed people? When will we care for people? When will the shame of seeing a fellow American alone, cold and hungry in a doorway on “Thanksgiving” not be enough?
0 Responses to thanksgiving 2006
Unfortunately Max the answer to your question is “Never”.
We will never end the problems of homelessness, poverty, hunger, lack of healthcare, etc. until certain segments of our nations population finally wake up and realize that these very problems are not character flaws to which to be ignored.
There is a large segment of our populace, and I’m talking about holy and righteous right wingers who populate the Republican Party, who believe that all one has to do to get ahead is to want to get ahead and then to do something about it.
This Calvinistic approach to societal ills is completely and utterly contrary to the very teachings of Jesus as outlined in the four Gospels, but that doesn’t mean anything to the righteous and holy. Instead, they cherry-pick the bits and pieces of the old and new testaments that allow them to blame the poor and needy for their own plight.
It is about as likely that I’ll poop sunshine and bunnies sometime in my lifetime as it is the religious right will change their way of thinking.
Well they are not the religious right, they are the religious wrong.