DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT THE HOMELESS "BUM" YOU SEE ON THE STREET?

Ian is an old friend of mine who produces music-- in concert and in the recording studio. He's done concerts as diverse as the Vienna Boys Choir, Green Day, Fugazi, Merle Haggard, Peaches and the Blind Boys of Alabama. But he as another life-- training people and organizations in violence prevention, anger-management, and conflict resolution, something he's been doing since 1993 at shelters, schools, hospitals, clinics, and drug-treatment programs across the country including such prestigious organizations as the Betty Ford Center, Bellevue Hopital (NYC), and Stanford University. Yesterday he told me about an effort he's been working on, basically all alone, in regard to recognizing that our society has a serious and growing problem with homeless people. I asked him if he'd post about for DWT.

SIDEWALK HOMELESS MEMORIAL PLANNED FOR SAN FRANCISCO

-by Ian Brennan

The day that someone in America first walked by a homeless-person passed out on the pavement without stopping to help was as monumental a cultural leap as Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. The downward slide had begun, from a nation where each person was created equal, all-for-one/one-for-all to the ever-escalating cynicism, paranoia, fragmentation, and competition of the post Reagan-era frequently exhibited today.

The Sidewalk Homeless Memorial Project is an attempt to break through the stalemate and denial, and give voice and name to individuals who have been dehumanized by the adversarial nature of our system. The great irony is that the potential installment of five historical bronze-markers honoring our fellow citizens at the exact locations where they died has by far created a greater outcry and emotional reaction than the near-anonymous deaths of dozens and dozens every year in all of our major cities.

The world has most always seen "hobos", "vagrants" and "hermits", but the sheer number and consistency of the past few decades are unprecedented. The fact that somewhere between 50-150+ people die annually on the streets of San Francisco, the seventh richest county in the ninth richest country in its eighth richest state, is a travesty.

Certainly the problem of homelessness cannot be laid at the feet of any one cause or person. It is as complex as any single homeless individual.

But when the desires of the far-left and far-right converge for differing reasons, there is usually hell to be paid. The reality is a link should be made: virtually no one talked of the problem of "homelessness"-- poverty yes, homelessness no-- until the mass deinistutionalaztion of the mentally-ill in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The unwillingness to provide fully and reasonably for the mental-health of our communities and coincidingly the primary criterion for most services becoming the exhibition of violence has unleashed an onslaught that will not be contained until we return to humane and balanced care for all of our citizens, especially those at clear disadvantage.

As we know, with any affliction the first step towards getting help is the recognition that there is a problem, while simultaneously embracing the belief or hope that solutions exist-- maybe never quite perfect ones, but progress can and still should be made.

Throughout the ages, across religions and continents, evil has been defined similarly-- the act of witnessing someone's weakness and instead of offering protection, ignoring or, worse yet, exploiting that vulnerability.

The sad irony of our oft-espoused maxim "it's a dog eat dog world" is that it is a factual inaccuracy. Dogs don't eat dogs. They operate from a strict social model in which cooperation and coexistence are the rule.

It is an act of courage and strength for a city to honor those who died alone, fogotten in life. They need not be forgotten in death. A city as great as San Francisco and one with as rich a tradition of progressive-thought is clearly most fitting to lead the way.