Silence is Consent Pt. - 1

Another Choice

Those of us with a home have choices to make as well. Ours are more plentiful, more rewarding, more desirable, and perhaps more far reaching than we know. We live a Universe where effect follows a cause. This is causation, not correlation. Sometimes we lose sight of how our Causes lose sight of their effects. That which seems beneficial or even essential can lead us down destructive paths, and the final destination may have sweeping consequences for others. Choices.

We make them everyday.  What to eat. What to wear. Choices. Inconsequential.

Who runs our government. Who sets our policies. Who controls our global financial system. Who delineates right from wrong. Choices. Monumental.

Often, we can't tell the difference between these two magnitudes of our choices. We are focused myopically on one aspect to the detriment of all others. Many times we are told one facet is the only one that matters. Sometimes this may be true. Many times the tunnel vision offered is less than full disclosure.

Our Causes lose sight of their effects. Still the desire to be part of something greater than one's self remains. A biological exploit to be harnessed for good or for evil. Each must choose. Each.

A Choice

When I was on the streets, not so long ago, I was broke, and no one in their right mind would hire a homeless man. I filled out applications by the dozens per day.  Every one of that was reviewed on the spot by a decision maker played out in the same way. I watched my prospects vanish when they read the third line of the application.

Date: 6/23/15
Name: Michael D. Unemployed
Address: Homeless

That third line answer meant they would never make it to the fourth line. Their expression would sour and turned their flesh to stone. There was no coming back from there, because there was no there there.

It didn't matter if it was the least demanding job requiring no qaulifications, I was under qualified by line three. Being homeless was a counter qualification, a negative skill set, the kiss of death. I could have been Henry Ford, the next Rockefeller, or Jeff Bezos, but my homelessness made me persona non grata. Interview interruptus.

I could have stopped right there. Got stuck right there. Rolled my sleeves down and put my hand out as so many of us do. The world isn't fair, so we'll just wait for someone to make it so. It's easy or at least less humiliating in the short run. The very short run. Then, ten years get behind you and you look back and realize it's been a decade of your disgrace. Your life was traded for an existence no one would choose, but you accepted by default. It's yours. Your life. Your fault. Others may have had their bit parts, but you're you full time.

I won't claim that I had some special quality or higher moral standard that differentiates you and I because that would be a lie. In a few words you'll see how preposterous such a claim would be. What I had was a crazy idea. It was crazy idea that started with a petty crime.

How many really bad stories start out with that common miscalculation? They usually end with someone dead on the floor and the perpetrator trying to explain the corpse away with intentions.

By the Grace of a Loving and Merciful God, and with me working against Him to my utmost, I went into a local drug store and shoplifted a pack of post-it notes. Then, I compounded my offense by nabbing a pen from a bank drive-thru. I wrote, "For odd jobs call Mike and put my Obama phone number at the bottom of the Post-it note. Repeating that process fifty-nine more times. I went out and affixed those sixty Post-it notes to an equal number of doors. That evening I got three calls. One was to cut a man's lawn for twenty-five dollars. Two days later I was helping to remodel his house.

When he paid me for cutting the lawn, I walked back into that drug store, slapped a five dollar bill on the counter in front of the clerk, said, "That belongs to you", and then exited quickly. He probably thought I was nuts.

My point is if no one will give you a job, you can make one. The world is full of people and people have needs. If you can fill one or more of those needs, then you can make a job.

You have a choice.

For my Son (On the Day)

What it Takes

What it takes to be the father (or mother) of a homeless community.

It takes a willingness to wake up at all hours of the night and answer the call because someone is hungry and needs to eat now. It takes the devotion to answer the door because someone has literally shit their pants and needs to get cleaned up and changed now. It takes the fortitude to treat the sick who are afflicted with a nauseating abscess. It takes Love.

It takes the patience to accept being lied to in a calculating manner by someone who is selfish and manipulative as hell, and still loving them. It takes far more patience than you will be afforded. It takes far more patience than you thought you had. You have it, just be patient and you'll see. It takes the courage to tell the truth especially when you’d rather not. It takes the humility to say, “I don’t know the answer.” It takes the dogged determination to find out. It takes the judgment to tell the difference between an important task and a fool’s errand. It takes Love.

It takes the ability to put whatever you're doing aside because someone has hit rock bottom, even if you know they haven’t seen anything that solid. It takes the certitude that God does not create garbage even if they are dressed and smell the part. It takes the ability to ascertain someones physical, mental, spiritual, and chemical disposition at a glance. It takes the ability to care more about someone than they care about themselves. It takes Love.

It takes a lot of time.  It takes a lot longer than you planned. It takes a lot longer than that. Way longer still. This is not an hourly employees position. It's a vocation and it pays in the end. You'll see, just be patient. It takes responding at a moments notice. It takes the ability to make definite plans with someone who will not show up even though you will. It takes a firm hand with a gentle touch. It takes respect for the disrespectful, trust in the untrustworthy, and hope for the hopeless. It takes the serenity to watch the same mistakes being made over and over again and trying to get them to see those mistakes over and over again. Maybe they will. Probably not, but we don't give up because they are not hopeless if were the one hoping for them. It takes care without ulterior motives or an agenda. It takes the ability to connect with someone others wouldn’t dare approach. It takes an open heart and an open wallet because in the final accounting you’re on your own. It takes Love.

It takes a deep respect for humanity and an even deeper respect for the human being. It takes listening to a lot of very smart, very respectable, and very well off people telling you that you’re wasting your time, and then ignoring them because you still know they’re wrong. It takes the rare quality to see quality where others only count quantity. It takes a definitive knowledge of where your job ends and God’s job begins, and always respecting that line. It takes Love.

It takes a significant number of cigarettes numbering in the tens of thousands. It takes great risk to your emotional well being. It takes the perseverance to bury a child and then move on because the others need your care. It takes lots of Love.

It takes a certain (particular) and certain (assured) form of mental illness we call PARENTHOOD. It takes Love. That is what it takes to be the father (or mother) , of a homeless community, which is exactly the same skill set it takes to be a parent. The difference is one you choose and the other… chooses you, and the success ratio is a hell of a lot thinner.

The unqualified need not apply.

The one and only benefit you can count on is when you arrive at the gates of Heaven you need only say, "It's me" and they will open. They will open.

My Response to Their Response

The King County Executive, Mayor, community leaders announce unified homelessness response...

(If you enjoy yawning, watch the video. If you're interested in the truth skip to my response below.)

Stop treating homelessness as if it were a normal condition. As if,homelessness on an epidemic scale has always been a fact of life like death and taxes and there is nothing we can do about it except manage the symptoms. If worldwide homelessness were a disease it would be on scale with HIV, or malaria, or syphilis infections. In the United States alone, the self-proclaimed richest country on Earth, homelessness has spread to as many people as Hepatitis B worldwide. Here, in our very own King County, homelessness afflicts 20% more lives than those claimed by schistosomiasis globally each year. 

Full Stop! 

Here are the truly alarming statistics: 

Homelessness is nearly 100% Preventable and Curable. 
However, when treated as merely treatable, it spreads.

Here is the regrettable truth about our condition, Dow... 

We like to talk a lot about doing something about homelessness because we must appear socially conscious. We blather on about the corrosive effects of homelessness on children, women, veterans, and the mentally challenged. We collect and collate data. We attend symposiums. We design graphs and charts to illuminate the statistics. We write and publish papers in psychology, sociology, and social issues journals. We accumulate continuing education units in classes on how to identify and treat the symptoms of homelessness. Some even go so far as to post their new approaches to homelessness on social media. 

However, when it comes to actually doing something to eradicate homelessness rather than just treating the symptoms... *Insert the sounds of crickets chirping here* 

Why? 

Well, Dow, you and I know that the only way to really end homelessness is… homes. The title of our disease contains the cure. It’s not really hidden either. It’s the first four letters of the pathogens name. But home is a four letter word for people like you because the more you build, the more property values drop. The more property values drop the faster those voters with property will throw you out of office for destroying their huge over inflated real estate investment bubble they call HOME. That four letter word that stuffed with urban sprawl land restrictions, green spaces, habitat and forest protection, sustainability strategies, public spaces, and draconian zoning restrictions coupled with exclusionary property taxes to pay for it all! 

FOUR LETTER WORD, Dow. Four letter word. 

Anything else is more HOMEless.

Mostly Poor, Generally Miserable, and Statistically Short

Why you’re going to be mostly poor and generally miserable for the rest of your statistically short adult life...

Unaffordable housing isn't a "norm", nor should it be. Unaffordable housing is a red flag. Now that I think about it, unaffordable housing is not just one red flag. Unaffordable housing is more red flags than a Communist Party parade. All those red flags are signaling a problem, but rather than solve that problem we're all busy managing symptoms. Symptoms which we think, because we are told, are separate problems. They aren’t. They're just symptoms of the one real problem. Yup, there’s only one of those, but we’re not being told that. So, we don't hazard to think it. 

Hang on. I’m going to tell you about it right now. The problem which caused the housing shortage symptom and a bunch of other serious social "ills" (all symptoms of the one real problem) is a change in our social structure. The change which manifest so many serious symptoms that we've confused them with problems, in themselves. The one real problem we have is we recently abandoned the ancient human lifestyle of "Three Generations to a Home" starting about three generations ago.

Suddenly,

1. Housing is unaffordable by default

2. Elder care costs have become a new cumbersome budget item.

3. Our elderly parents are routinely placed at risk of being abused or ignored to death in nursing home 
institutions.

4. Child care becomes yet another massive personal budget item requiring government assistance.

5. Our children are taught values by strangers rather than family.

6. As a result of #5, XBox and gang-banging become lifestyle choices for our kids. 

7. Meanwhile, as a result of all the above SYMPTOMS, we get to spend years of our lives standing in line trying to get some government housing, child care, and/or elder care assistance which is guaranteed to keep us in chains for the rest of our days.

 8. If we are fortunate enough to buy a home, we’re going to have to work a lot more hours to cover all the bills. This means more child care costs and as a result, more X-Boxing/ Gang-Banging kids. Note to self: Figure Bail money into monthly budget… somehow.

All these SYMPTOMS are spawned of our abandoning the ancient human lifestyle of "Three Generations to a Home". The solution is not more or bigger government assistance checks. That, my human friends, is the road we took to arrive at this place of despair. What we need to do is solve the problem by living like humans again: Three Generations to a Home", because it works and always did. 

We used to know this. We forgot. It’s time to remember again. It’s time to remember how to live like humans. It’s time to remember how to live our humanity rather than enhancing our morbidity through bankruptcy.

The future is our past or we're all history.

It’s time to go home to humanity.