I once read an ethnography of rural Africa. It described life among folk who practiced subsistence agriculture. Among these folk, if one of their's came home having fallen on hard times, the extended family often the whole community could give the returnee a piece of land to work. The work could bring in a few vegetables or support fowl and eggs. The family / community had enough flexibility that they could absorb a person in need.
In our urban sophisticated environments we prohibit selling two or three cigarettes lest taxa go unpaid. Begging on the streets upsets citizens expectations. The list goes on.
A regiment of activists -- self - appointed and otherwise -- trip over themselves and the well intention ed to shout at us that we lack heart, authenticity, or compassion because we do not take up their sure fire solution to the problems of the homelss.
And, always we hear the chant so earnestly mumbled
Hey Hey
Ho Ho
This and that
Has got to go.
All of this will trail off into cul de sacs of self pitying recriminations against the system and or the man.
And, Now, I the ultimate self pitying, self-aggrandizing, meretricious, all time huckster proclaim the following.
Fitting uncle Clyde into a small plot of land in the back forty -- provided that he will work --- or the barn, or shack or whatever out building we might have in Bohunkus Bummphuque is one thing. Here in our most ordinary, unloved, unnecessary places on earth job descriptions have loose boundaries. All you have to do is refrain from drunkenness while the women remain awake. Say no evil thing. And, eat whatever we put before you.
In urban settings, however, one often must read at an eigth grade lever or higher. Skill sets must have clear definnitions including editions, versions, and dates. Certificates, licenses, and identifications must all bear recent dates and staps. All this being extant, we will let you in line to job hgunt.
In short, the urban setting these days requires high levels of precision. And most folk feel justified in these requirements.
So, I wonder if many of the homeless SIMPLY don't fit into newer smaller tighter more brittle slots.
