COMPASSION AND EMPATHY IS SORELY LACKING IN TOO MANY PEOPLE
As a person who has been on the brink of homelessness and joblessness before, and
who knows there are many who land in those situations despite their best efforts to
prevent it from happening to them, I wrote these poems on their behalf. Please take
the time to read them in their entirety. After you do, there are actions that you can take to help.
* If you are an employer, please hire the long term unemployed, those
over the age of 45, and the disabled. Most people, if given the chance,
want to work and earn their way so they can have a roof over their head
and food on the table.
* Give food to your local food bank
*Advocate for a Basic Income. This would be money that would be
disbursed to every citizen to cover basic food and shelter. It would
also be a major shot in the arm to expand our economy.
*Volunteer to help at a soup kitchen or local homeless shelter.
*Talk to people on the street and treat them like real human beings
and not like trash.
*Advocate for setting aside space for tiny homes in your city.
This could provide affordable housing for no or low income people.
*Advocate for getting rid of ordinances that attack the homeless.
Outlawing homelessness helps no one.
*Advocate for more section 8 housing. Hawaii alone has 28,000
people on a wait list for section 8 housing.
*Advocate for single payer healthcare. It is more cost effective to
take profit out of healthcare and health insurance.
*There are over 58,000 homeless seniors as of 2012, and that figure
only gets bigger as seniors get priced out of housing, food, and medical care.
For every year that a senior is retired, they lose money as COLA never keeps up
with inflation. Please keep in touch with elderly relatives and look out for their welfare.
www.endhomelessness.org/library/entry/demographics-of-homelessness-series-the-rising-elderly-population
*The disabled are a group that is in the immediate crosshairs of congress.
If you make a 1000 a month on SSDI, congress wants to cut their benefit
down to $800 a month. There isn't an apartment in most cities, that goes for
less than $800 a month, which will mean a lot more of homeless disabled
people on the streets.
If you can come up with more and/or better ideas, please post them.
HOMELESSNESS
In my life I've been sad to hear,
those that don't care about others, their message is clear.
"Pick yourself up by your bootstraps" I hear them exclaim,
they care naught for my circumstances, I cannot; It's my pain.
When you've no money, no address, no phone,
no one will hire you, you're out on your own.
In this time of high technology, when most businesses hire from online,
having no computer, I can't put in applications. I haven't got a dime.
No transportation to go to a job, no housing, no address, leaves me in a lurch.
So I sit here, and you watch me with wary eyes from your perch,
You assume I committing a crime, just by sitting on a bench.
You assume I'm an addict due to my aromatic stench.
I don't have a home, no shower, no clean clothes,
For it is I and those who are like me that you do your best to loathe.
Your unwanted assumptions are my cross to bear,
I wonder if you really see me, if you could really care.
Humanity needs to come full circle, to care about each other,
It wasn't that long ago you see, but now no one wants to bother.
The tribes of the past, used to share and make sure all were taken care of,
No one went hungry, or unsheltered, or unloved.
A lesson for humanity should be given once again on the range,
the ones who are oppressed are the ones who can make change,
but only if we all stick together, regardless of our lot.
We only have each other, and that is all that we've got.
So fight for all humanity, against the hoarded greed,
With kindness and fairness, we can all be freed
from this giant rat race, we can live together, and amend
and let the planet heal from our wars on each other, and be better humans once again.
-Linda Meyer
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ODE TO THE HOMELESS VETERAN
Go Away! I heard him say.
You homeless bum be on your way!
He pushed me and punched me.
He was not at all kind to me.
What ever happened to this land of the free?
Apparently freedom, no longer applies to me.
I have no family who will take me in
They put me off and say I'm living in sin.
They think that I'm disposable,
But I'm a human being just like you.
Such a statement should not be opposable,
But I'm treated like an old worn out shoe.
People don't usually see me here standing in the rain.
They never see that I am a human, and that I'm in much pain.
You see I fought for my country when I went to a foreign land,
When I came home there was no fanfare, no band.
I came back only to find no help for me,
My broken body, soul, and mind,
Makes people uncomfortable, they leave me behind.
People see me as a bum, a loafer, and lazy.
They call me an addict, and mentally crazy.
What I am is a human being just like you.
I deserve to be treated with dignity too.
Although I'm broke and broken, don't judge me so severe,
For one day, if circumstances dictate, you also could be here.
Be kind to all people you come across in life,
No matter who they may be, we all experience strife.
Everyone deserves a home to call their own.
Everyone deserves to be cared for, and kindness shown.
Will you be the one to help make an opportunity for me to feel loved?
Or will you continue on your way, not caring, and giving me a shove.
Humanity needs a reset and to let greed, and ego go.
People need to become humane to each other, and allow humanity to grow.
~ Linda Meyer
other links:
A michigan group advocating for the homeless:
https://www.facebook.com/HomelessAngels
http://www.gofundme.com/HomelessAngels
A group that tries to brighten days of low income seniors and others, including a transitional housing organization in
Whitman County WA and Latah County ID. We are trying to expand to other counties in the region, but need help with funding.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/sunnybuds/
http://www.gofundme.com/gqe928
A facebook site dedicated to trying to help save and expand Social security.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/SAVE-Social-Security/441638929247447
http://www.gofundme.com/k9hi8o?fb_action_ids=10204928592190043&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_ref=fb_cr_n
http://incrediblerants.blogspot.com/2014/06/resource-and-knowledge-based-economy.html