Thank you for the stats Caittlin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Understandably, many of us don't want to believe that people are turned away from shelters on a cold night like this. But let's face it folks, what's happening to the homeless can easily happen to most us on this list . As Michael Moore so brilliantly argued in his award winning documentary, <Bowling for Columbine>, those of us in the United States who are not millionaires have no safety net to speak of. This causes fear and anxiety. But instead of articulating our fear and anxiety in a constructive way we resort to pecking-order behaviors. Some tell themselves and others that homeless people really don't have it so bad because there are shelters that serve them coffee and donuts in the morning, while others erroneously dismiss most homeless people as addicts or vandals. While a few people might be homeless on account of bad behavior and poor choices, that's no excuse to take their suffering lightly. When I worked in the health care field in the eighties I never saw any lung cancer patient denied treatment or compassion even though their cigarette smoking might've brought on their cancer. And I suppose I could bitch and moan about my white, middle-class co-workers who have developed diabetes from eating vast quantities of junk food, thereby raising my health insurance premiums, but I don't complain or judge, because we all have at least one or two nasty habits. As for those who abuse street drugs and alcohol, many of them are medicating symptoms of their mental illness. And as awful as their drugs of choice may seem, they'd be more uncomfortable, and in some cases sicker, taking psychotropics offered to them by licensed psychiatrists . . . As for churches, in a better world they'd be helping out a lot more. But the way things stand now they don't have to. I like the idea of the state requiring services from them in exchange for their tax-exepmt status, but most likely that's not going to happen. Elected officials who make up our government are the ones who are ultimately responsible for the welfare of us all, because when they fail in their responsibilities we can at least elect others in their place. Say if St. Stephens church decided to stop helping homeless people, what are we going to do? Elect a new bishop? For the same reason I'm skeptical of corporate partnerships. It'd be pretty difficult for the citizens of a municipality. state or nation to fire a CEO if his or her corporation decided to terminate their agreement with a school or social service agency . . . For those of you who trivialize poverty, judge the homeless and mock and patronize their advocates, you have my pity. The fear and insecurity that haunts you must be devastating.----Peter Schmitz CARAG
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
