In the last issue, I wrote about an interview I had with Marta Beresin, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.
She made the point that people who are chronically homeless may be particularly vulnerable because
of the conditions underlying their homelessness.
They may be mentally ill, addicted or developmentally disabled. They may be very young or very old.
Though in very recent years, things have been slowly changing, for much of the past three decades
and more, society has failed to address the needs of the chronically homeless.
And even today, with efforts such as the city’s permanent supportive housing program, you still see
people sleeping on street corners, in alleys and on the steps of buildings. They walk around with no shoes, barely clothed, sitting in the rain while it pours down, talking with themselves.It leaves me asking “Why is this?”
If these individuals are the most vulnerable then why have they been left to fend for themselves?
The District government has agencies such as the Department of Mental Health and the Department of
Human Services tasked with helping vulnerable populations. Yet still, there are so many fragile people living on the streets, apparently unnoticed and without aid.
Something must be done. It is time for all of us to say, “enough already.”
From this day forward I will do my best to treat others in the way I would want to be treated, to understand that my pain is your pain without prejudices, my sorrow is your sorrow without prejudices, my hurt is your hurt without prejudices, my tears are your tears without prejudices.I will stand with all of humanity and say ‘no’ to anyone who treats other human beings cruelly and with no regard.
We as members of the human race have had leaders who have shown us the way in which to live, love,
care, support, nurture and take care of one another.
Lets all start today because all we have is today. Tomorrow is not promised and yesterday is too late. So let’s all make Agape Love Contagious!! For it is the total love of God for all of Humanity!!!
