Plastic Bag Suitcases

Some are born with compassion, others learn it the hard way. Every individual has a story, within that story lies a reason, a reason why. Why they are the way they are. There are success stories of course. Stories that tell of a person who found within themselves the ability to prevail over the obscurity from which they came. But when society robs someone of their story, of their individuality and replaces it with a label that is the bone of contention which I write. For the rest of us life happened. We fought hard but still ended up on the losing side. We have Morales and manners. We work towards peace. Peace within ourselves. We work to be normal and live decently. What we don’t realize is the fine line which our comftorble life teeters. Most of us could be a single week away from losing everything we have worked for. That is when we are robbed of our self worth and labeled bums and vagrants. The stain on the perfectly etched facade of “The American Dream.”

This truth stirs with in me a conviction impossible to ignore, but hard to hold onto. Pulling up to a stop light on any given day there is a pan handler. You glance at him, but carefully so not to make eye contact and seem as though your interested. You look at him to judge and to satisfy curiosity. It crosses your mind to help but you can’t and you won’t. It’s not that you don’t feel a bit of empathy, it’s more that you don’t want to come to terms with the reality that it could be you. Later you may mull over some reasons why you shouldn’t help. “He’s probably a drunk.” or “He might be a scammer.” This is true. He just might be. But the likelihood of him not being either of those things is far more evident then any of us would come to accept. Some have chosen the life but the thought spawned out of a horrific childhood riddled with abandonment and rejection. Others owned businesses and rolled up car windows and locked doors like the rest of us. Regardless it will not go away. The aristocratic view the less fortunate as stinking corpses on a door step surrounded by their perfectly trimmed shrubbery. Pam Iorio the mayor of Tampa may be one of these said Aristocrats. Pam Iorio if someone has not informed you,allow me. Tampa is your door step and it is your responsibility to see to the welfare of these poor souls. You as an elected official of America have vowed to help in upholding the Constitution. I submit to you the Preamble of the Constitution itself so that it may enlighten you to your civic duties.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,[1] promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Yes it does outline the general welfare of the people. Your job description does not limit itself to ribbon cutting ceremonies and award banquets. You are a civic leader and A public servant. Your public is in need. Your city unraveling at the proverbial girdle with the hopeless and the destitute. Your constituency consists of 15,000 homeless people with only enough beds in the county for 15% of them. If not for the honor and the valor of following through with your promise for integrity and upholding the highest of ethical standards as explicitly stated on your website, but to regenerate a city which is the 55th largest in the Union. There are weathered hands and tired eyes on these able bodies who only wish to work or have a fresh start. There are woman and children on the streets of Tampa and every other city across America. These people could easily be productive and vital members of society so why are they so easily ignored by the remaining population. Food is a necessity but it will not sustain their lives wholly. Clothes are important but do little to bring them solace. It is a terrifying thought that living in America has come to mean that one wrong business decision could sentence you to a life of worthlessness and destitution. Some of us just will not accept that. I am one of them. Jene Batronie is another. She serves the hungry every Sunday and is unapologetic with her disdain for aristocracy and the useless local government of Tampa. She will not stand down with her cause. However she cannot do this alone. I call to service the American conscious. This is a time of reprieve for our people. A time in which we must return to our original values. The theory of individual responsibility is dead and unity will live as America had intended it. The very thing that sets us aside from other countries is our ability to take care of our people. Samuel Adams once said “The sum of all is,if we would most truly enjoy in the gifts of heaven, let us become a virtuous people; then we shall both deserve and enjoy it. While, on the other hand if we are universally vicious and debauched in our manners, though the form of our Constitution carried the face of the most exalted freedom we shall in reality be the most abject slaves.”

We must mend the broken and move forward. It is a question of humanity and nothing else. In humanity though there is no question there can only be an answer. The answer is stewardship, which offers a more selfish outcome then you may think. When you help and when you give you are given a feeling that no upscale boutique could ever offer at any price. If your not interested in improving an other’s quality of life at least be interested in improving yours, by charity.