none of our many government agencies, politicians, religious leaders or local philanthropists have yet explained why the most innocent and vulnerable among us seem to garner the least amount of attention. none of the competing homeless agencies have been able to give an acceptable answer as to why our children are not the number one priority of our efforts in any social program, especially one dealing with housing or the homeless. the deaths of 13 children on the streets of this country on any given nite violate every shared belief of every religion on the face of this earth. nowhere can any reasonable or morally acceptable excuse be given for this tragedy. no amount of data, no amount of analysis and no amount of cold reporting can ever excuse this atrocity. no expert can proclaim any program, any plan or any report is a substitute for caring for our children, much less allowing them to die homeless and alone in this country.
the deaths of these children, week after week, year after year, states very plainly just how faulty, just how decaying and just how out of date and out of touch our efforts to deal with homelessness are and just how misguided our programs and agencies have become. it is an indicator of just how much our own basic values have been sidetracked by politicians and agencies with their own self interests taking priority over what should be our duties and responsibilities to these children. what should be compassion and a sense of social responsibility that is passed on to our next generation has become a political sideshow resulting in a vacuum of not only services but also even awareness and caring when it comes to these homeless children.
we cannot afford to continue to allow these children not to be our main priority and focus when it comes to the efforts on ending homelessness. we cannot afford to continue to allow excuses, reasons, causes or anything else to stand in our way of immediately rescuing these children from the streets and placing them in a safe environment. we can longer believe the rhetoric and words of politicians and promises from leaders of ineffective homeless agencies to distract us from our homeless children. the death of our children should cause us to take immediate action. thus far it has not. it is not a sign of weakness or surrender to admit that our policies have not been successful when it comes to our homeless children. it is however a sign of cowardice and hard heartedness when we refuse to acknowledge our mistakes and begin to rectify them. there are no standard answers. there are no sociopolitical remedies. there are no religious cures. there is only you and i...collectively...to stop this needless death and suffering. there is only you and i to step forward and take our children off the street and find them safe shelter and a secure environment.
we cannot be silent and we cannot continue to pretend this problem doesn't exist. we can no longer allow politicians and homeless agencies to step around our children and give assistance and aid to other groups ahead of our youngest, our weakest and our most valuable population...our children...our future. until we do, it should be a stain on our hearts and souls.
see you around town