How to Be Exempt from Society

The state (RI) that can't decide on the morality or legality of indoor prostitution and a city (Providence) that is still working on an ordinance that does not allow minors to work strip joints, can't find a way to assist these few homeless a place to live. Energy better spent getting them a place to live instead of ordering them out of here and there. If a convicted felon can be offered a livable wage, why can't these homeless find a home?

If the state can pay judges more in retirement than out of retirement, why can't the state find these people a home? Since when were people disposable? Who shames who? Cities and towns are sympathetic but every time these people are discussed, officials and neighborhood "committees" insist upon talking about protecting "society" as if these people were a threat to their society and not a part of it. We sympathize with them, but...

There seems to be no mention of finding them normal shelter, just discussion about their eventual leaving somewhere else as the tent city grows. The police speak of a couple of "incidents" as if the rest of "society" which these people came from does not. There always seems to be a clause of some kind making exceptions because they are homeless. The cue word is. "but."

Some of these people work, others are laid off, and some work part-time, they pay taxes, they purchase food where they can, they keep the area as livable as they can under the circumstances yet, officials and neighborhood groups speak of them as outcasts and not part of the society they speak of. Where did they get the right to determine who is and who is not part of society? Couldn't people show some solidarity with them and call upon resources that do exist to get these people off the street? Some of that money from overpaid politicians would be helpful. None of them look like they have missed a meal.

Certainly there are enough drug busts where a portion of the sold confiscated property to go toward assisting these people. A dollar! ONE DOLLAR from every paid parking ticket in Providence alone would put them in a home in no time! Twenty five cents from every item the new state internet taxes could help. Twenty five cents from every vehicle excise tax could do it too.

The point is, there is a way but I believe that since they can't contribute to some campaign and there are not enough of their votes to fear, the will be tossed about like yesterdays newspaper. As long as the "neighborhoods" continue to say we feel for you but... they are yesterdays newspaper; we feel for ya, but not in our neighborhood. We have society to guard.

Are they going to be bused away as some states have done? Mayor Bloomberg has paid for 550 homeless families to be flown to Florida or elsewhere. He has a $500,000.00 budget, funded yearly to do just that. Florida, to their credit is at least trying to reunite these families with family members out-of-town. It's called "reunification service." The Southern states are certainly taking the lead in helping the homeless reestablish their lives while the money-rich and some New England states just look for a quick was to dump them.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/florida/sfl-homeless-florida-flights-073109-copy,0,4908477.story

Most people in a position to help claim to believe in God and know that helping the homeless does not begin and end at the dollar dropped in the basket every Sunday. (Thou shalt not wrest the justice due to thy poor in his cause. ⁷Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. ⁸And thou shalt take no bribe: for a bribe blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous. ⁹And a sojourner shalt thou not oppress: for ye know the heart of a sojourner..., Exodus 23:6-9) There is plenty more, especially for those who claim to be Christian but seem to exempt the poor and homeless.

It is not only the responsibility of the severely strained charities. It is all our responsibility, which includes Republicants (because they can't do anything worthwhile for the poor) who always claim the higher moral road but always find the poor and homeless on top of their list of endless budget cuts.

A very disheartening attitude is revealed supporting my assertion that these homeless have been designated outside of society. That statement made by Schnepel, the head of that neighborhoods association states: "I don't want to turn my back on people who have met bad times in their lives, but (that clause) at the same time, we have a society to uphold... (Which means what?) The bigger this gets, the harder it will be to tear down."

I find the terms appalling that they seem to imply that the homeless people are no longer part of society and are growing menace? A problem for whom? What needs to be torn down? It is shameful. Even inmates are guaranteed "3 hots and a cot" and they cost a lot more to maintain. Check the Projo.com link below and hear for yourself. (Philip Marcelo, TENT TENSIONS, Providence Journal Bulletin, Thursday, July 9, 2009 )