So let's say that you -one guy- are really going to solve the
worlds problems, and you get a large bag of twenty dollar bills and go stand
in the street between Marshall Fields and IDS and give out a twenty dollar
bill to each person who comes by and will take one.
At first you will be an oddity, people will just walk past. But
then when you manage to get a few twenties into peoples hands, word will
spread like fire and soon you will have a line up. Before too long you will
get knocked in the head and the bag of twenties will disappear.
If you institutionalize the idea that every one must have a place
to sleep and live, then you will have people from six states away coming
here to live for free. It is just like with welfare, word was that we had
people carpooling and busing here from far off to get on and collect free
money.
It isn't the nature of people to be parasitical. But if they just
don't have much and freebies are available it is easy to develop the freebie
habit and forget the 'accomplishment' attitude.
My own grandfather who, built his first house and lived in 'Ford
Town', though he went through the depression pennyless, -worked chopping
wood for a dollar a day- he died in his ninties a millionaire from hard work
and very smart investing. We used to snicker as in the Carter years when
they gave away cheese, he never missed going to get free cheese. They built
another house out on the river and through all the years I would go out
there and in that time he would cut off a block of cheese and give it to me.
One time the block of cheese was wrapped in a paper that had -in my
Grandmothers handwriting, the banks and certificate numbers of their
Certificates of Deposits.
Interesting thing is that downtown at one 'soup kitchen', I have
seen reports on CCO, talking to people in the line, getting their hardship
story. Accross the street, just steps away, is a high rise hotel with a
super luxury cafe, set in atrium, in which you can go in and order
breakfast, get paper, sit and watch big screen CNN, and there is no till,
you don't pay. Of course that is for hotel patrons but they advertised that
the public is welcome also, I have been there several times for nice
breakfast, no charge.
James Jacobsen // Whittier
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