I have been noticing more and more as the course progresses, that everyone, homeless or not wants similar things from life. As listed in Grand Central Winter by Lee Stringer, love, respect, happiness, a sense of fairness and justice, a sense of well-being, a sense of purpose and value, and the feeling of being connected to something substantial, lasting, and secure. When I recognize the truth in this for me personally, and for most everyone I know, it allows for a feeling of solidarity, that all of us no matter what race, creed, gender, or walk of life, want pretty much the same thing. I then feel part of a greater whole, and a compassion towards my fellow humans, as they are trying to do the same.
In starting to understand how lucky and fortunate I am to have the things I do (food, shelter, entertainment, social relations, money, educational opportunities etc.) and the circumstance into which I was born, I appreciate it more. I realize that many others do not have such resources and beneficial circumstances. This dawning forces me to look critically at our society, and ask questions regarding the world and country I live in, and why it is the way it is, and what I can do about it.
Stringer states when talking about the human condition that, “The characteristic of absolute, unwavering devotion to something-common in those whom we might in error consider “lowlifes”-may well be, when directed toward spiritual growth, the essential element we readily assume drunks and druggies are by nature missing. ”
He talks further about the natural inclination and drive toward a spiritual path and how this has been replaced by the ever-present belief that material and physical things are more important and take precedence over the spiritual. He goes on to say “…religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell, spirituality is for those who have already been there.” as stated in AA rooms. This illustrates the clear division and disparity evident in the U.S. among those who have and those who do not. Stringer also states that “Policy is never the real issue, the real issue is in the hearts of men.” I find this to be a poignant reminder that we have failed in helping our own , and in search for success and happiness, we have ignored and marginalized others. We do such things blindly and often without concern for others, and all they can do is hope to simply survive. Clearly the invisible hand of free market capitalism has its preference on whom to assist, and who benefits. I am not aware of anything that seems to ‘trickle down’ to those who need it most. Stringer discusses policy and affirmative action, saying “concepts like affirmative action, while benefitting others, are essentially driven by our own desire to elevate ourselves.” This I agree with strongly, and in my experience have known to be true.
One of the powerful things stringer also states is “I’m sure most Americans take comfort in the fact that racism has been abolished in this country. Not the practice, of course, bus as a topic for public discussion…their response was not so much a true denunciation of racism as it was a response to the appearance of racism. The object being not to disturb the picture of America as we imagine it to be. ” I find this very powerful and true, because he touches on the elephant in the room that many try not to notice, let alone talk about. Racism. It makes people uncomfortable and the unfortunate response is to not create conversation and to quickly hurdle or whisk the topic away. Instead of dealing with the highly conspicuous issue, we rationalize the current situation, and quiet any inquiry into the true nature and status of the issue as to maintain the ideal of America.
“…before we can put bigotry to bed, we must clear away the great confusion about what are the proper parameters for interracial coexistence. And for that to happen, the subject of race itself, ugly, dispiriting, and prone to occasional blunder though it can be, must be taken back out of the closet. The current trend is to dismiss any and all dialogue concerning differing experiences among different racial/ethnic groups as liberal blather. ”
He goes on to say that anything that doesn’t support our one-nation version of cultural harmony is diverted, then allowing for the intolerance to be further implanted into our society.
We are all in this together so long as we are living on this earth, and to spend life ignoring the conditions in which so many live in order to protect one’s own sense of identity and comfort is to support the perpetuation of the endemic inequality, intolerance, and preventable suffering of so many. If we are truly the nation that so many believe, we will take action and start to face our demons head on, together.