No need any longer for the excuse that it is about politics or religion. It’s not about being on the right or the left…nope it is simply about hate, distrust, and a strong sense of insecurity. I took my favorite little dog Chance on his morning walk at 7 am, on the streets of West Hollywood. The LA area is the most quiet and peaceful early in the mornings, and most times the air is a bit fresher and cleaner. Few cars on the road, which for LA is quite the miracle, and even fewer pedestrians, so not having to dodge people more interested at looking at their phones than walking right into you, makes maneuvering the streets enjoyable. I like the mornings because the clutter of the day has not found footing, and some stupid Tweet, or some idiotic fabrication of the truth is still waiting for me on my phone and computers’s news feed. BUT, more and more lying upon the early morning streets, sometimes in the nocks and crannies of an alley way, or just in the middle of the sidewalk are men and women of various ages, huddled , if they are lucky beneath a blanket or jus curled up in a fetal position I suppose finally falling asleep. I don’t know these humans, and I suppose I could pretend to NOT notice them either…BUT here is the thing, they exist, they are real, and “there for the grace of God”, they could be me.
I am not sure why there is a debate in a nation, where the top 2% of the population have almost as much wealth as the rest of us? I am not sure how there are always billions of dollars to acquire a company, or build luxury condominiums…I am not sure how arrogant politicians and religious leaders insist all you gotta do is pull yourself up from your boot straps, when in fact you don’t even own a pair of boots. Of course I understand Capitalism, I have benefited from it, but why is it a sin to criticize Capitalism when in fact it has become so cult like and almost as sought after as a God.
People are suffering from malnutrition, depressed from lack of shelter, dying from poor health care, and yet Mega Churches build towers to the sky, pay their Pastors millions of dollars, politicians get paid not to produce any legislation, receive life long pensions, socialized medicine, the man in the White House goes golfing builds his own palaces of gold. Why is there so much for so few and so little for so many? Today, I felt sad as I walked Chance. Should I blame all of these homeless folk for being lazy, stupid, unmotivated…or should I blame the rest of us who would prefer to just look the other way, pretending that all pain and suffering is just your own fault.
