I remet him on a tourist tram. He was using the free tram to get to free showers.
His story several weeks ago ignited my desire to write to Bernie Sanders. So I did. A few days after Bernie announced his ideas about going after the richest of the rich, such as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.
The man - 40 something - had been working for an Amazon warehouse, he said. He had not made enough to rent in the area - not yet. He was doing a good job. He was neat and clean. He looked fit. His hair was short. He's a WASP. Then they found out he was sleeping outdoors, which is called sleeping rough. They called him a bum and told him to get out of there. OK, maybe there is more to the story, such as differing opinions. But I believed him.
I wish Bernie had not used the term Socialist Democrat when he was running for President of the United States because we Americans are afraid of anything Socialist. Is it Socialism or is it Judaic-Christianity? The real thing - not the greedy, materialistic, the hell with you, I got mine, that some of us now associate with both groups because of our personal experiences with them - is what Sanders endorses, even if he never set foot in a church or temple.
Someone once told me it says in the Bible that there will always be poor people. The Bible again... as a Big Excuse. If you want this country to be "one nation under God" (i.e. God first, country second) if you want this to be a "Christian country" think about it. What would the Jewish radical Jesus do? What would a genuine human do?
Where are the psychologists on the front lines of social change? I learned in Psych 101 that one of the goals of the profession was to make the world a better place. I also learned about the needs pyramid. Basically, it is not true that poverty makes you a better artist (or a better anything). Actually, you produce best when your basic needs are met. Only then can you go beyond survival. Being an artist is often like being a surfer; it helps if you grew up with wealth, this I learned to be true through the years. You only have the audacity to be an artist when you're poor - and then you're usually exhausted from working for a living - too exhausted to paint. Asking someone who does not know where they will sleep safely or who does not have enough to eat and is stuck in survival scrounging for their basic needs to be met to also work full time is asking a lot - too much. All their resources are to stay alive.
Is there enough? Are we really the "richest country?"
The man who got fired by an Amazon warehouse left the county where he was working and homeless to come back to LA to be homeless and find warehouse work, which there is plenty of, especially in the business of shipping packages from Amazon or forwarding them. He's got the skill of a fork lift driver, that helps. Will he ever make enough to afford to rent?
Ask yourself when you order from Amazon how you are complicit in this scenario.
On the tourist tram he had good news: the local Work Source had sent him on some interviews and he'd been hired to start in a few days. The bad news? He had already used his EBT benefit (turned on as a restaurant benefit - i.e. fast food - due to his homelessness) for the month. He also had no money for bus fare to get to the job in three days. It would then be the middle of next month before he saw either GR or a paycheck. I wanted to give him the bus fare but didn't have any money on me to do that. I was able to direct him to a local place that has a community meal outdoors.
Gracie and I decided to go by there at the end of our afternoon. We saw him sitting alone - with a pile of food in front of him - a few extra sandwiches on the side.
He put a forkful of pasta in his mouth and grunted. He speared another forkful. He was eating fast - like someone who hadn't in days. A tear sprung from his eye. He lifted his head up to look at the sky - or maybe Jesus or God - and said, whispering, Thank You!
C 2018 Christine Trzyna All Rights Reserved
