OR: Where I get my self-righteous indignation
(and where you can get yours!)
When I was a little boy, the phrase ‘homeless’ just wasn’t in the lexicon. Because we had hospitals for mentally ill people. Watch One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest for historical reference (and watch it because it’s one of the greatest films ever made.).
Seriously,.. set that movie in current time and Nurse Ratchet is giving out methadone at a clinic while Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd are at an intersection asking for change. I wish I was exaggerating. Sure nurse Ratchet was a cunt, but she kept those people safe… until she didn’t. It didn’t work out so well for Billy, but overall, .. on the whole, … it’s better to have a special place for people who are not able to function in society. A place where those people can be all day, get their meds and not be a menace to society. That movie came out in 1975. That’s the county I grew up in so I know what’s possible
Last winter a co-worker came back from dumping the day’s cardboard in the trash. He told me there was a guy in the dumpster. He didn’t realize until he had thrown it in.
I thought about it for the rest of the shift (which wasn’t very long), and then I kept thinking about it on the ride home and for the next couple of days.
… and the I made this post:
Matt Buzz struck a cord… I needed to get off of my keyboard and do something. So, I sent him a message and he hooked me up with some of the nicest, best intentioned, people you can imagine. Mel and Lynn.
The next Wednesday morning I was at The Well warming center. For four hours I would welcome people coming in, write down their name (or in many cases, ‘a’ name). I would wand them down with a handheld metal detector, and give them a coffee cup.
The center served a modest breakfast. Sometimes an egg sandwich, or a single pancake.. There was cereal available most of the time.
The place isn’t exactly rolling in dough. So.. I asked my boss at my regular job-job if we could do one of our charity round-ups for The Well. ….how could he say ‘No”?… right. He couldn’t and didn’t.
We asked our customers to round up their change for a week and raised $600. I had the honor of handing over the check. My only regret is that it wasn’t one of those 4 foot by 3 foot novelty checks.
Next time, maybe.
I would encourage anyone with even the slightest interest in making a difference to help out doing something like that. It really rubs your nose in the failures of our society and gives you licence to shit-post to your heart’s content.
