(Akiit.com) In the final installment of the series, we get real about where all this is really coming from.
WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO IT
The recent collapse of the American dream has revealed the ugly truth, that a society that worships money, material possessions, youth and beauty is not so rich, accomplished, young and pretty after all, but a seriously deluded collective who must keep the hoax going by any means necessary.
The homeless are a staunch reminder of what a joke the American dream really is, how unattainable it really is and how quickly it can become a nightmare. We see how far and how fast one can fall after losing a paycheck, and our wage slavery becomes apparent. We feel cheap and gutless, much like frightened whores standing in the rain.
The homeless reflect the truth about the society we live in, a society that would spend trillions of dollars killing people on the other side of the world instead of spending millions saving lives at home; the brutality of our socioeconomic system is oh so very obvious and becomes glaringly apparent, but we can’t stop worshipping it.
We can’t look at the homeless, lest we see who we really are. Besides, it might be catching, so wemust run away from it as fast as we can.
And maybe that’s it; maybe the sight of ourselves if not for the grace of God disturbs us on some primal level. We have to ignore them (us) and if that doesn’t work, destroy what they represent (our true selves outside of God’s mercy and grace) even if it means destroying them, period.
That is why the man at the Main Library ended up on the floor. He was appropriately feisty and belligerent toward the guards when he came to himself. I was relieved to hear from the library director that he had returned to the library, all piss and vinegar and insult and trouble, because it meant he had survived his fall and was alright. I’ve wondered in the 80 or so days since he crashed to the floor if he was okay.
Nothing is coincidence; I witnessed the injustice done to the sleeping man for a reason. Perhaps it’s because I’m like him, all piss and vinegar and insult and trouble, appropriately feisty and belligerent and unafraid to stand up and speak truth to power; maybe I’m the only one who could write this editorial not for the glorification of self, but in the hopes that it will spur someone to action and bring about a change.
And if that is so, then God’s mercy and grace has not been far from him at all; His mercy is my witnessing what happened and standing up for the homeless man, His grace, the man’s ignorance of what was done to him in the library that day.
God is good. All the time.
You can contact Uzoma Onyemaechi via email at uonyema@detroitpubliclibrary.org, or you can call him at (313) 833-1000. Drop him a line; let him know you read this online and tell him what you think. I told him I would write this, so you won’t be surprising him. Go ahead, email the brother and let him know that in light of the foreclosure crisis that has touched every city in this country and the many Black families that have been displaced from their homes as a result that you don’t appreciate his lack of compassion for our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.
There but for the grace of God go us all, and he can go, too. Tell him that.
Call Onyemaechi and tell him to respect the dignity of the homeless.
End of series.
Patricia Calloway writes Citizen Pat’s Blog at www.thepatshow.wordpress.com. She lives in Detroit, Michigan.