JUST ONE MORE ... way to help the homeless.
I've got homeless people on my brain.
Here in the FTL, new leadership is about to break up the long established encampment downtown near the library ... and this after they recently lost a lawsuit with a group that feeds the homeless (the court ruled that doing so was a protected first amendment freedom of speech). There was also the death of local homeless veteran Popeye (see earlier post in the blog), and the man outside the McDonald's to whom we donated a blanket on the coldest night of the year this week, and the annual holiday tradition of helping to make sure that homeless folks get fed around the holidays.
I don't know that there's ever something more perfectly suited for the concept that drives this series: to try to find a way to embrace incremental change in order to empower folks (or just me) to stay positive and solution-focused in a day and age where problems often seem insurmountable, control often seems out of reach, and apathy often seems to be running rampant.
Clearly, there's no way to solve all of the problems that contribute to the homelessness situation, but I still have to believe that helping one person at a time is still the right way forward. And I feel compelled to combat the notion that a Facebooker made in response to my Popeye post -- that I shouldn't feel too bad because "this is often the result of poor life choices such as illegal drug use, etc. You don’t just end up homeless like this unless you go through a period of giving no shits about anybody except yourself... so don’t feel bad."
I want to explore that ... mostly so I can refute the response. I want to confirm that so many of the homeless are veterans lacking proper resources ... or LGBTQI young folk abandoned by the support systems that are supposed to guide them toward greater things ... or those unfairly affected by the opioid epidemic. I want to demonstrate that there IS a calling for each of us to provide just one more ... way to help the homeless.
