Sometimes, I feel like such a hypocrite.
How often have I railed against the selfishness of our society? How many times have I condemned our system for disregarding the least among us?
Yet, yesterday as I was heading home from school, there was a homeless guy standing beside Hearon Circle. He was truly pathetic-looking, too....he apparently hadn't seen a barbershop, shower, or clean clothes in months. He was just standing there, holding a simple hand-lettered cardboard sign that read "Please help the homeless."
...and I just drove off, acting like I didn't see him.
You've all been there. You know all the excuses you come up with to try to justify your actions in these situations. "Yeah, he's probably just a drunk or a drug addict, just trying to come up with enough money for his next 'fix.' He might not even be homeless! He's just here to dupe the gullible..." Who knows? All of that COULD be true. And, in my defense, I didn't have any money on me. I was on my way to go pick up my paycheck, in fact. But that still doesn't excuse my utter indifference.
Where the hell has my compassion gone? Hell, I know how it is to be homeless. I know it can happen to anybody. I've been homeless myself on several occasions. I'm about to be homeless again, in fact...thanks to some stupid financial decisions on my part, I can't afford the rent on this apartment anymore. The only thing that's saving me this time around (indeed, the only thing that saves me every time this happens) is the fact that I have friends who don't mind letting me crash with them for indefinite periods of time. (The next update you read from me will, in all likelihood, be written in Tim and Rochelle's garage.)
The whole reason why I got into politics in the first place was to help my fellow man. Our system is broken, and it's time we turned our priorities around and focused our efforts on helping the helpless. But when I'm standing there, face-to-face with one of those I'm claiming to be so concerned about, I do nothing. How, then, am I any better than the "let them eat cake" conservative assholes who run this state?
How often have I railed against the selfishness of our society? How many times have I condemned our system for disregarding the least among us?
Yet, yesterday as I was heading home from school, there was a homeless guy standing beside Hearon Circle. He was truly pathetic-looking, too....he apparently hadn't seen a barbershop, shower, or clean clothes in months. He was just standing there, holding a simple hand-lettered cardboard sign that read "Please help the homeless."
...and I just drove off, acting like I didn't see him.
You've all been there. You know all the excuses you come up with to try to justify your actions in these situations. "Yeah, he's probably just a drunk or a drug addict, just trying to come up with enough money for his next 'fix.' He might not even be homeless! He's just here to dupe the gullible..." Who knows? All of that COULD be true. And, in my defense, I didn't have any money on me. I was on my way to go pick up my paycheck, in fact. But that still doesn't excuse my utter indifference.
Where the hell has my compassion gone? Hell, I know how it is to be homeless. I know it can happen to anybody. I've been homeless myself on several occasions. I'm about to be homeless again, in fact...thanks to some stupid financial decisions on my part, I can't afford the rent on this apartment anymore. The only thing that's saving me this time around (indeed, the only thing that saves me every time this happens) is the fact that I have friends who don't mind letting me crash with them for indefinite periods of time. (The next update you read from me will, in all likelihood, be written in Tim and Rochelle's garage.)
The whole reason why I got into politics in the first place was to help my fellow man. Our system is broken, and it's time we turned our priorities around and focused our efforts on helping the helpless. But when I'm standing there, face-to-face with one of those I'm claiming to be so concerned about, I do nothing. How, then, am I any better than the "let them eat cake" conservative assholes who run this state?
Don't be so hard on yourself. You can't hand off money to others when you need to be taking care of yourself. I don't want to see you standing alongside that guy and neither do you. You are on your way to helping so many people- doing more than most Americans. I'm in a shitty situation myself that I don't have the energy to even write about on this site. But hang in there because that is all we can do. Eventually it will get better.