You know how after you have a run-in with a stupid person who accuses you of something, you get all defensive and start trying to deny their claim or justify your actions . . . And then after your heart rate has settled back to low-grade resentment you think of all the pithy, profound, cutting things you should have said?
That woman who lives in my old neighborhood, yeah, the one in her cute little bungalow house, with her cute pesticide-free yard (she has a sign proclaiming it) and her cute little mop-haired floppy-eared mutt, the one who asked me in a supercilious tone, "Why don't you go to a shelter?" That woman? She's still on my mind and under my skin. I've been trying to figure out what I should have said, other than "Eff you, you stupid b-word, eff off and leave me alone."What I could have said, should have said, depends on what I wanted to elicit from her. Compassion? I think she probably is a compassionate person, from afar, that is, just far enough so she doesn't have to smell the stink of human suffering or get her hands dirty actually helping dig latrines. She probably donates to environmental causes, maybe not Green Peace but the Nature Conservancy or Save the Butterflies, if there is such an organization. She might contribute to humanitarian causes, maybe Amnesty International. No, more likely UNICEF or Doctors without Borders. When she's feeling particular magnanimous, around the holidays, she might even send a check to the Gospel Rescue Mission, in hopes that will help erase the homeless population that frightens her so much. God knows, homeless people could use more Jesus. Lack of Jesus is what got them into the mess in the first place.
Yeah, super compassionate, but not enough to vote to change zoning laws to allow affordable and low-income housing in her neighborhood. Not enough to actually change anything to make it possible to get people out of their tents, their cars, their busted-down RVs and get them into proper, safe, affordable, dignified housing.
Just down the hill from where I park at night (near her house), there's a parking lot behind a chain link fence. Inside the fence are about a dozen sheds, barely bigger than outhouses. These sheds are the manifestation of the liberal solution to the homeless crisis. Give them a tiny box, barely big enough for a bed, not even big enough for their bike, and then admit the qualified (best) homeless people (no addicts, nobody who needs a bath or a haircut or some mental health services), give them a key to their own little hut, put all the huts behind a chain link fence, with one opening monitored by a guard, to keep them in, to keep others out, I don't know. Then you can finally feel safe, even if you aren't actually safe.
If I were a homeowner in a big city like Portland, I would be terrified. Not just for my personal safety and the safety of my belongings, my family, my pets, but also for the value of my asset, my house. It must be a gut-punch to discover all the tent cities down the street have cut the value of your property by a third. What if you want to sell and go somewhere safer (whiter, richer)? Who wants to buy into a neighborhood of tents and trash, used needles everywhere, and feces on the sidewalk?
Certainly you wouldn't want to add an ADU to your property and charge a nominal rent so some nice senior lady could live a quiet, safe, affordable life. You might build it for your mother-in-law, but not for a stranger. In a big city, it's too hard to be an independent landlord. Tenants are nuts. They don't pay rent on time, they don't leave when you evict them, and when the sheriff finally kicks them out, they've trashed your asset and left you with massive bills. Such disrespect.
It's human nature to circle the wagons when the homestead is threatened. Survival instinct is how the human DNA has managed to make it this far. At some point, though, a civilized society comes to realize that when one person is unsafe, then no one is safe. Segregating the community into in-group and out-group ultimately destroys the very security the haves are trying to protect.
Let them eat cake.
Everyone dies.
It takes a lot to awaken the sleeping giant, but people with nothing left to lose can do a lot of damage as they work toward changing the system to be more fair and inclusive. You can either get on board and lend a hand, or you can stand in the way and watch your house burn down. Metaphorically speaking, of course. I would never condone violence.
But I wished I'd told her to eff off and mind her own business.
Oh, well. Next time.