I found the movie that we watched today about Ron, the homeless man who was a candidate for the Santa Monica City Council, to be both moving and troubling. What struck me as being the most upsetting throughout the documentary was just how hideously selfish so many of the people who had homes that were interviewed in the film were. For example, when the two young men were asked whether or not they think food donation services should be outlawed, their responses were centered around the notion that people who cannot afford to feed themselves should be left to starve, because “in nature, if you can’t feed yourself, you die.” Another interviewee, a woman on vacation from Kentucky, described the line of homeless individuals in the beach park waiting for a free hot meal as being “disgusting.” I don’t consider myself to be particularly naive, but I honestly was shocked by how insensitive and apathetic these privileged people were about those less fortunate than them. I cannot even begin to fathom viewing another human being as being unworthy of life simply because they have fallen upon hard times or are losing life’s lottery. This film made it clear how easy it is for others to bask in their own good fortunate and ignore the needs and suffering of others.

A quote I found to be interesting from the movie was “we are not just looking out for a handout, but are looking for just a hand.” This was stated by a homeless man responding to the question of how it is that people can assist those on the streets. I fully agree with what he had to say. It’s the idea of helping people help themselves so that longterm solutions can be made. All of the people in the film wanted to get off the streets and were desperately trying to better themselves and their lives, but between the overfilled shelters and the constant mistreatment and harassment from uncaring police offers they were unable to find proper housing. That is what I found most tragic. That even those putting all of their efforts into trying to rectify or improve their situations just couldn’t do so and not because of anything they were doing wrong, but because the city of Santa Monica was failing to uphold their promises to aid the homeless denizens of the area.

Lastly, I found it surprising how unappreciative people were of the homeless people collecting cans to recycle. The movie made it clear that Santa Monica lacks a productive recycling program and so to me, it appeared incredibly helpful and eco friendly of the street people to gather plastic and aluminum refuse and recycle it. This not only provides homeless people with a form of legal income, but it cleans up the streets, and helps Santa Monica become a greener city. It certainly sounds like a good thing to me!