February 25, 2015
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The Road to 65, Mile 83: Purging
February 19, 2015, Prescott-
The calls resumed even before I reached the El Paso city limits. Neediness knows few boundaries, in its self-perceived desperation. I bought some assurance of being left alone, so as to continue my drive in concentration and in peace.
I realize that I do not want a constant presence in my life that sucks that life out of me. I do not want someone in my business, constantly. I do not want to be tethered, or bled financially, drop by drop. My involvement in dealing with the dispossessed can’t be of such a form as to make me one of them. We all have a part to play in ending homelessness, but the solution can’t be piecemeal and it can’t be of such pressure tactics on individuals like me, as to breed resentment.
I feel tense, and a bit angry, at having to fend off constant requests for money- which I have to make last, a long time, ( thus my propensity for eating sparingly,for keeping my energy costs low, and, when traveling, for staying in cheap motels in winter, and campgrounds in warmer weather). Housing people in my apartment is forbidden by my landlord, and I am obedient to the terms of my lease.
On the other hand, when those who claim to be serving veterans and other homeless people adopt a piecemeal, almost capricious approach to service, enticing groups of men to their shelter and then staying closed in cold weather, they leave the people with no choice but to find abandoned homes, sleep in the forest, or in storage units, of all things. Utah offers small houses to their homeless, taking people off the streets and storefronts.
Thankfully, the local Interfaith Council has a meeting on this subject next month. I will encourage as many of the people who approach me for what I don’t have to give, to show up, presentably, at this meeting and at Prescott City Council meetings, and speak respectfully and as eloquently as possible, on what the current non-system of dealing with this issue is doing to the entire community.
We cannot continue,as a society, to think that putting people on buses out of town or merely thinking they will dry up and float away, will purge the issue from our midst. Quite the contrary, the numbers of dispossessed will only grow, as long as the issue is ignored. I know this, because I housed as many as ten people, over a three year period, when we lived in Phoenix.
Comments (2)
You have a good and generous heart. The idea of volunteerism taking the place of government institutions has failed. It has failed those in need, those giving of themselves and out of their own resources and especially society in general. I agree that there has to be a concerted effort at solving some of these issues.
Volunteerism, left to itself, frequently falls victim to the profit motive and individual egos. This has been the fate of those organizations which purport to serve veterans and of many, but not all, mental health agencies.
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