Much appreciated message that can easily slip through the cracks of our busy lives but is never completely forgotten. Without love, life has no purpose. With love, all things are possible ❤️
Thank you, Gary. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father died just as it started from TB he got during WWI. Her mother went to work and her granny ran the house. They lived modestly, yet my mom told me that every day her granny would cook enough to put out food for men in the neighborhood to take home to their families. This wasn’t unusual. I’ve heard this from many of my friends with parents who also grew up then. If you had something, you gave part of it to your community. Because you loved your community.
While I don’t condone your friends’ behavior, I do understand it. The homeless situation has become out of control. It’s become a political strategy used by people who wouldn’t know love if they fell over it. They use the homeless to create hatred in voters rather than love. Cea Weaver, Mandani’s hopeless appointee is a perfect example. Anyone who has tweeted the hatred she feels for her own class — white and privileged — is incapable of love. You cannot love through hate. No matter how compelling your rhetoric, you’re lying in order to gain power over people. You can’t love the homeless more than people who are fortunate enough to own a home and afford to eat and clothe themselves.
And you have to love yourself first before you can love anyone else. When I was eighteen I went to hear the great Vedanta monk, Swami Prabhavananda. I had always thought that love meant self-sacrifice. But he talked that day about how you can’t save anyone or anything unless you save yourself first. And you can’t love anyone or anything else until you love yourself.
Your friends have probably had to listen to too much hatred — of them. Hatred of their “privilege” and their race, if it is white. It’s time to extend love to everyone. I live in a city where there is a very privileged community and I see way too much self-hatred among those white people. They send their kids to expensive schools where they are taught — not love — but self-hatred. And this is why we will continue to have more of a homeless problem.
My grandparents’ generation did not hate themselves for being able to live in a home during the Great Depression. They loved what they had and who they were. And that’s what infused their love of community and gave them love to share with those around them who were less fortunate.
Thank you, MAHA Report for letting me go on like this!
That was THE MOST incredible article I have read in a LONG while! It aligns with so much that I have been learning recently. From listening to NDE’s to Identity Exchange to reading the Bible and more. Those are truly inspired words you wrote. I will share them. Thank you.
I loved reading this. I felt so reflected in the words and postures you shared. I grew up overseas in China, became friends with a lot of folks living on the streets, and when I moved back to the Twin Cities, I continued the same. It is amazing how humbling it is to join in that work of "recognition". Thank you for writing.
Happy to see this on the MAHA Report. We need constant reminding that programs exist to serve people. I am reminded of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, which was nothing more than the simple act of individuals sharing what little they could spare so that everyone could be fed, and the story of the Good Samaritan.
So much of what he said brings forth memories of when I was younger and wanting build a better world. So much of what he describes has underpinned much of how I've tried my best (but often failed) to go about things in life. So much describes biblical principles, specifically the Good Samaritan. It would be icing on the cake to link various parts of the article to scriptural passages, as it exemplifies the beautiful message and life of Christ: helping the other from a basis of agape love.
Truly, a powerful article. Thank you for posting this, hopefully it helps to keep the reason clear on why to make the world a better place, one person and one connection at a time.
So perfectly and fully expressed. I hope those who have written so very many hateful and “othering” comments regularly found on the MAHA report will reconsider their words. Thank you Gary.
This was a fantastic read. Particularly liked the part about love being a fundamental part of the universe and how systems and beings work in harmony for life to exist. Powerful and have had the same thoughts. Kudos to you for such an inspiring piece.
The perfect message for our very imperfect times, thank you. Love is as important a pillar for our individual and collective health as quality food, exercise, etc., and it's the pillar we don't talk about enough. Deepest gratitude!
OMG. I love this. For so many reasons. I first learned from a client who behaved just as you did in the above example. She made a routine practice of it - she'd go grab a homeless person and ask what they needed and show up the next day with socks, water bottles, whatever they'd asked for. She was a widow living in a one bedroom apartment and had very little money herself, but it was important to her to see people who were living on the streets as human and let them know that she saw them that way.
Many are in a "there but for the Grace of God go I" situation. Many were "us" - employed, had a house, whatever - and some confluence of events landed them where they are now.
I've been upping my game ever since. I was in Austin Texas in Nov for the Moment of Truth conference, and when I walked into CVS to buy whatever I needed, there were 2 homeless guys outside on a bench. They asked for money, and I said I wouldn't give money, but asked what I could get them from inside. They placed an order for a Dr. Pepper, I think it was cherry flavored. When I came back out I gave them their drinks and then I stayed and chatted for a few minutes. One of them said "I like what you did just now."
I think he meant the staying and chatting. I imagine that maybe what hurts as much as the hunger and cold and everything else is being ignored/stepped over, having people act like you are an inanimate object rather than a human. So I always make eye contact and smile and sometimes engage in a little chit chat.
A thought I've had that won't leave my mind: back in the 80s, when the proverbial "crazy" homeless person was ranting on the streetcorner that the government was listening to them . .. . do we still want to call that assertion crazy, now that we all recognize how much our phones and other devices are listening to us and recording an astonishing amount of data about us? Or do we want to reframe it as: they were early recognizers of trends that likely were unfolding then that led us to the overt surveillance that we are currently experiencing Maybe they were prescient. Maybe they were clairvoyant/clairaudient/clairsentient. Maybe they had an ability to tune into realms that others of us simply did not have access to. Who knows.
"Crazy" can be a lot of things including the person having excess copper in their system which can then present as symptoms of schizophrenia. A person can be overmethylated, which presents like mania.
Eventually, we'll learn to call things by their proper name, and add that "back in the dark ages, we used to call those people crazy/paranoid/schizophrenic/manic, before we knew what was really going on.
Dianne, prayers for your son & family. My first biggest exposure to serving the homeless was during the Plandemic when I never locked down. Now I have a client who is housed, but previously unhoused . . . he is always grateful.
Much appreciated message that can easily slip through the cracks of our busy lives but is never completely forgotten. Without love, life has no purpose. With love, all things are possible ❤️
Beautiful, Jeff!
"For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind."
2 Timothy 1:7
Your kind gesture was all that was needed to turn Jimmy's life around to one of dignity and purpose.
Yes, one person at a time can create miracles.
Thank you, Gary. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father died just as it started from TB he got during WWI. Her mother went to work and her granny ran the house. They lived modestly, yet my mom told me that every day her granny would cook enough to put out food for men in the neighborhood to take home to their families. This wasn’t unusual. I’ve heard this from many of my friends with parents who also grew up then. If you had something, you gave part of it to your community. Because you loved your community.
While I don’t condone your friends’ behavior, I do understand it. The homeless situation has become out of control. It’s become a political strategy used by people who wouldn’t know love if they fell over it. They use the homeless to create hatred in voters rather than love. Cea Weaver, Mandani’s hopeless appointee is a perfect example. Anyone who has tweeted the hatred she feels for her own class — white and privileged — is incapable of love. You cannot love through hate. No matter how compelling your rhetoric, you’re lying in order to gain power over people. You can’t love the homeless more than people who are fortunate enough to own a home and afford to eat and clothe themselves.
And you have to love yourself first before you can love anyone else. When I was eighteen I went to hear the great Vedanta monk, Swami Prabhavananda. I had always thought that love meant self-sacrifice. But he talked that day about how you can’t save anyone or anything unless you save yourself first. And you can’t love anyone or anything else until you love yourself.
Your friends have probably had to listen to too much hatred — of them. Hatred of their “privilege” and their race, if it is white. It’s time to extend love to everyone. I live in a city where there is a very privileged community and I see way too much self-hatred among those white people. They send their kids to expensive schools where they are taught — not love — but self-hatred. And this is why we will continue to have more of a homeless problem.
My grandparents’ generation did not hate themselves for being able to live in a home during the Great Depression. They loved what they had and who they were. And that’s what infused their love of community and gave them love to share with those around them who were less fortunate.
Thank you, MAHA Report for letting me go on like this!
Beautiful, Polly. Thanks for sharing that heartfelt message.
Polly, How deeply insightful. Greatly enlarges my perspective. Thank you.
That was THE MOST incredible article I have read in a LONG while! It aligns with so much that I have been learning recently. From listening to NDE’s to Identity Exchange to reading the Bible and more. Those are truly inspired words you wrote. I will share them. Thank you.
I totally share your appreciation of this article, Camyla! One of the best I have read in a long time also.
I loved reading this. I felt so reflected in the words and postures you shared. I grew up overseas in China, became friends with a lot of folks living on the streets, and when I moved back to the Twin Cities, I continued the same. It is amazing how humbling it is to join in that work of "recognition". Thank you for writing.
Happy to see this on the MAHA Report. We need constant reminding that programs exist to serve people. I am reminded of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, which was nothing more than the simple act of individuals sharing what little they could spare so that everyone could be fed, and the story of the Good Samaritan.
So much of what he said brings forth memories of when I was younger and wanting build a better world. So much of what he describes has underpinned much of how I've tried my best (but often failed) to go about things in life. So much describes biblical principles, specifically the Good Samaritan. It would be icing on the cake to link various parts of the article to scriptural passages, as it exemplifies the beautiful message and life of Christ: helping the other from a basis of agape love.
Truly, a powerful article. Thank you for posting this, hopefully it helps to keep the reason clear on why to make the world a better place, one person and one connection at a time.
Dr. K., One at a time...because there is only one.
A profound Ode to Love!💗
Totally.
Beautiful, and inspiring. Thank you for the reminder. If only everyone in the world remembered.
Good on Ya, Gary. I always keep folded dollars for beggars, and look them in the eye, and wish them well, on my bike or in a car.
I read a book of yours about living a long time in the late 1990s.
;-)
So perfectly and fully expressed. I hope those who have written so very many hateful and “othering” comments regularly found on the MAHA report will reconsider their words. Thank you Gary.
This was a fantastic read. Particularly liked the part about love being a fundamental part of the universe and how systems and beings work in harmony for life to exist. Powerful and have had the same thoughts. Kudos to you for such an inspiring piece.
This is so beautiful. Thank you!
The perfect message for our very imperfect times, thank you. Love is as important a pillar for our individual and collective health as quality food, exercise, etc., and it's the pillar we don't talk about enough. Deepest gratitude!
OMG. I love this. For so many reasons. I first learned from a client who behaved just as you did in the above example. She made a routine practice of it - she'd go grab a homeless person and ask what they needed and show up the next day with socks, water bottles, whatever they'd asked for. She was a widow living in a one bedroom apartment and had very little money herself, but it was important to her to see people who were living on the streets as human and let them know that she saw them that way.
Many are in a "there but for the Grace of God go I" situation. Many were "us" - employed, had a house, whatever - and some confluence of events landed them where they are now.
I've been upping my game ever since. I was in Austin Texas in Nov for the Moment of Truth conference, and when I walked into CVS to buy whatever I needed, there were 2 homeless guys outside on a bench. They asked for money, and I said I wouldn't give money, but asked what I could get them from inside. They placed an order for a Dr. Pepper, I think it was cherry flavored. When I came back out I gave them their drinks and then I stayed and chatted for a few minutes. One of them said "I like what you did just now."
I think he meant the staying and chatting. I imagine that maybe what hurts as much as the hunger and cold and everything else is being ignored/stepped over, having people act like you are an inanimate object rather than a human. So I always make eye contact and smile and sometimes engage in a little chit chat.
A thought I've had that won't leave my mind: back in the 80s, when the proverbial "crazy" homeless person was ranting on the streetcorner that the government was listening to them . .. . do we still want to call that assertion crazy, now that we all recognize how much our phones and other devices are listening to us and recording an astonishing amount of data about us? Or do we want to reframe it as: they were early recognizers of trends that likely were unfolding then that led us to the overt surveillance that we are currently experiencing Maybe they were prescient. Maybe they were clairvoyant/clairaudient/clairsentient. Maybe they had an ability to tune into realms that others of us simply did not have access to. Who knows.
"Crazy" can be a lot of things including the person having excess copper in their system which can then present as symptoms of schizophrenia. A person can be overmethylated, which presents like mania.
Eventually, we'll learn to call things by their proper name, and add that "back in the dark ages, we used to call those people crazy/paranoid/schizophrenic/manic, before we knew what was really going on.
REALLY welcome message. One of my own sons, along with his family of 5, is homeless in the cold wintertime. We are estranged and I'm not allowed...
Dianne, not allowed what ? Sorry to hear about your son...
Not allowed to reach out at all.
Dianne, prayers for your son & family. My first biggest exposure to serving the homeless was during the Plandemic when I never locked down. Now I have a client who is housed, but previously unhoused . . . he is always grateful.