A better life is available to you.
If you want it, and will work for it,
you can have it.
I will recite that often on The William Tell Show. It’s the sort of thing one hears from Barack Obama.
Category Archives: Justice
“I shoulda had somebody crack your head open.”
I was abused at McDonald’s.
On the one hand, I’ve kept silent about this for four years, lest my coming forward constitute retaliation; I don’t believe in retaliation. On the other hand, with almost daily news reports about fast food workers abusing customers and the police being called, I would be remiss if I don’t share my story also.
I have screen shots of my diary from the days in question. I also have the original pertinent e-mails from McDonald’s.
Bottom line: Will you, or will you not, get on with life?
Continue reading “I shoulda had somebody crack your head open.”
The Ph.D. and her pettiness
As long as you’re complaining
— about ANY THING —
you’re not doing what you can.
As remarked recently, I am almost never verbally insulted for being homeless.
The insults that do come are events at the clothes window, in the shower room at the shelter.
Hassan
Not more than twice have I taken verbal abuse for being homeless.
Here is the more memorable of those events. Continue reading Hassan
Prayer for the dead
When one comes across a story like that of Kendrea Johnson[1], Victoria Martens[2] or Brian Williard[3], one may be moved by a desire to somehow help the deceased, and question what one can do, since the person is, after all, dead.
In the previous post, I said of Kendrea, “You just want to take her in your arms, hug her, and make all the darkness go away.” Actually, you can — if, at that moment, she is willing to be embraced. Your intuition will tell you her status in that regard at any given moment; or, may direct you at wholly unexpected times that, at this moment, that is so. See “Following guidance.”
There is a Jewish expression, “z’l,” meaning “Zikhrono livrakha,” “May his memory be for a blessing.” The corresponding form for a woman is “Zikhronah livrakha,” “May her memory be for a blessing.” A corresponding Gentile expression is “O.B.M.,” “of blessed memory.” Every time one uses such an expression, one honors the person who has passed on, and this is not without its effect beyond the veil.
[1]Related: Give up the word “deserve.”
[2]Related: Forgiving the cosmos
[3]Related: Grief and sublimation
2) Give up the word “deserve.”
| <– 1) Do for yourself… | Home | 3) Get your hands dirty. –> |
John C. Dorhauer’s “An Open Letter to White Men in America” begins:
Dear White Men,
You are persons of privilege.
You didn’t earn it.
This distresses me far less today than it did when I first read it. Maybe I’ve become more comfortable with having things I don’t deserve. More likely, I’ve lost all interest in whether people have things they don’t deserve or deserve things they don’t have.
I encourage you to lose all interest in it, too.
Referred pain
Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy
This is the first of three posts about entitlement:
Today – “Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy”
07/19 – “How I became homeless”
07/26 – “When needs are met”
Let’s get rid of (the term) entitlements
“In 2012, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone represented 44 percent of spending; all entitlement programs were 63 percent. But it’s hard to control entitlement programs because their constituencies are so large.”
It makes sense to me that, as Samuelson proposes, we should discard the term “entitlements” as naming portions of the federal budget that are untouchable. No program should be sacrosanct.
Continue reading Entitlement(s): Attitude and policy
Michael Jackson “son” hoax, and other notes
“‘Implicit Bias’ Is Very Real and It Infects Every One of Us”
Two different approaches to white racism
Continue reading “‘Implicit Bias’ Is Very Real and It Infects Every One of Us”
The Homeless Blogger 