Do you think people living on the streets are cultures canaries in the coal mine? Canaries were taken down in the coalmine by miners because the birds suffered or died before the miners due to noxious substances. This warned the miners to get out.
Maybe people living on the street are powerful reminders of danger in our culture. A culture of disregard and materialism. One that destroys perfectly good things and places because of a desire for a new look. And this happens while someone watches it as entertainment, meanwhile the land chokes on overproduction.
And this craze for more happens while some people are hungry, ill, strung-out on bad drugs, ravaged by abuse and have nowhere to go. And the connection between us and them remains locked in the disturbing belief that everyone has the power to change their own life.
Do we blame society for the plight of people on the street, or do we blame the people on the street?
What if there is not a solution? What if we just accept what is in the moment? Can we improve life for people that are sleeping and hanging out on the street? Find new ways to offer care?
How long will it take to understand there is no us and them? And how long will it take for the wisdom of I am my brother’s keeper to be embraced, or will we all be poisoned together by greed?