HOMELESS

Back in 1951, when I was in the 7th grade at P.S. 148 in Queens, N.Y., Mrs. Kennedy was our teacher. I guess you could call her a "liberal" -- but, then again, if you were not rich, and lived through both the Great Depression, and WWII, folks today would call you a "Liberal", a "Socialist", and perhaps even a "Commie", just for being happy you have a real job, and we defeated Fascism.

Anyway, she HATED the English. She hated what they did to Ireland. Even in the 7th grade we knew enough to discount some of her anti-English rants. We were not "damaged", nor were we "brainwashed". In fact, if there was "brainwashing going on -- it was at the hands of the Anglophiles.

During one of our Social Studies surveys , she took the textbook, and pointed to pictures of the homeless in the streets of Bombay (that's what they called it then), and other Asian cities. She pointed those pictures out and said, "look closely at these -- that will NEVER happen here in the USA because we CARE about each other.".

Sadly she was wrong. We have lost all sense of community. We do not give a damn about the homeless. We don't give a damn about "the least of us" -- this in a nation that loudly proclaims how "Christian" it is.

Today the "mantra" is -- "they brought it on themselves" -- that's the very first thing said, no matter what the reason for the problems. We have become a mean, tight fisted, judgemental, society. We are fed fear of damn near everything, and everybody -- except those in OUR Church, which leaves us open to all sorts of scams.

We trust the Madoffs, but won't give five bucks to the bum on the street. We avoid the amputee beggars, the obviously non functional old drunk -- even when we are en route to a fancy restaurant where we will spend well over $100.00 on food - plus some fancy drinks. Why not let the old dude get his buzz on. He will never be "rehabilitated", we do not know what he accomplished earlier in life, we don't know his demons -- and, he will never have a chance at salvaging his life if we let him die.

We do not want to see "those people". Too many of us are afraid THAT could be us if our "luck" turns bad.

There is no reason for homelessness in our society. There is no reason each and every person in the USA (EVERYONE) is not covered by health insurance -- all we have to do is remember Mrs. Kennedy.

In the USA we care about each other.