Thanksgiving in Austin was great…it was so good to see Juliet, Chris and the dogs again. Austin was unusually cool and that was great. Since I hate the heat it was a good time to visit with temps in the 50’s. Even wore a jacket. Juliet and I had a great time just hanging out while Chris slept a lot. Since he’s working the night shift at Apple, his hours are kind of crazy.
On the way to my brother Jimmy’s house we drove past the City Hall building downtown. There the steps and front lawn was covered with tents and sleeping bags and banners and ice chests. All along the street were people carrying signs. Juliet asked what it was all about and I am ashamed to admit that like so many others, I have chosen to be oblivious to what’s going on in the financial world because frankly, I feel helpless to change anything and am in the “ignorance is bliss” frame of mind.
What struck me was that the protesters were mostly young. There were a few older folks but those older people looked like aging hippies. What was missing was the middle class, middle aged demographic. Ironically, from what I’ve read, it’s this group of people who are suffering the most from the current financial chaos. Yesterday at work, the “New” owners of the company I work for offered a 401 K plan to us. They have “declined to contribute” at this time…but we have the option of putting our money in. Not a single person felt comfortable doing that with the current financial climate. Most felt it would probably be better to stick their money under the mattress rather than trust the “establishment”.
The last time I was in Austin, I was amazed at the number of homeless people holding signs at every major intersection asking for help. That was back in the Spring. This time, the intersections had more than one at most intersections. Back to back homeless people, working the same corner . The underpasses had groups of people under them and there were people begging outside of a couple of stores that I went to. It was difficult to ignore.
The signs that usually read will work for food had given way to more creative text. One sign read
“25 Cents or best offer”…………………another read “Just plain Hungry”….yet another read “victim of corporate downsizing” ………..another “Jesus love the homeless”.
If I had given $1 to every homeless person with a sign I saw in the 3 days I spent in Austin, I would have probably been out at least $50 in a matter of minutes.
Driving in to Austin with very little traffic the whole way since I left my house at 4 a.m., there was a point on I-35 South that the traffic slowed to almost a halt. Since I had encountered very little traffic on the way down, I assumed that there was probably a wreck up ahead that had blocked the highway. When I got closer I saw that it was not a wreck but a traffic jam as cars tried to exit into a rest stop that had a big sign offering “Free Thanksgiving Dinner”. As I passed by the rest stop, the line was out the door of the building where the food was being distributed. The picnic tables and the grounds were full of people sitting on the ground, balancing plates of food. Families with blankets spread out on the ground eating their Thanksgiving meal.
A little later, sitting at a fancy restaurant eating a $17.95 per person turkey dinner (and that price did not include dessert OR a drink so it was more like $25 a person by )....with every table taken and others waiting for a seat I felt guilty. That $25 a person could have bought a weeks worth of food for a homeless person. Sort of made the “turkey” hard to swallow.
Later, as we tried to make a quick trip to Walmart to get medicine for Juliet, the parking lot was completely full, the lines were around the store..there were tents up where people had camped out the night before to be the first in line….we went home and she suffered through a night of coughing. Friday morning, I went to Walgreens. There were no lines. The manager got on the intercom to announce a special on detergent. He said “thank you for shopping with us today…unlike other stores, we are well rested and ready to serve you because we were closed yesterday, we got time with our families, we didn’t have to be at work at 10 p.m. so people could participate in mindless spending for the sake of spending.” I had to laugh. I’m sure that was not the “corporate script”for announcing in-store specials. When I got to the register to check out, the clerk was the same manager who had made the announcement. He had his long, shoulder length hair pulled back in a ponytail, tattoos covered his arms and his button down Walgreen Shirt was unbuttoned to where you could see the Keep Austin Weird t-shirt underneath.
My church is getting ready to participate in a program that takes poverty stricken people and teaches them the way out of poverty. They will be given job skills, resources to help break the cycle of poverty that they find themselves in. This is a joint effort of several churches in Muskogee. The idea is a good one and I hope that it has great success. The adage give a man a fish and he’ll eat for one day..teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. My prayer is that it gives them something more than tools. I pray that they find hope. Hope in the midst of trials. Hope for a better life, a better future. But for the grace of God, go I.
It’s easy to get so caught up in my own problems that I lose sight of just how blessed I am. I have a home, I have a job, I have a support team of family and friends that I can count on for whatever I need. I have 3 meals a day, I have a car. I have a closet full of clothes, some of which I’ve never worn. I have a pantry full of food. And that’s the tip of the iceberg in regard to how good of a life I have. I don’t want to lose sight of that. And I don’t want to be numb to the greed and corruption and selfishness that abound in our society. I am grateful for those people who have the courage and the resolve to stand up, to speak out for what is right.
My resolve today is to take my head out of the sand and educate myself on what is happening in our country. When I go to the polls this year, I won’t automatically vote along party lines. I won’ t stay home thinking what difference will my vote make . I won’t take the stance that it doesn’t matter who wins the elections, all politicians are crooks and so what difference does it make who has control. My apathy and indifference will evolve to empathy and concern. It may not make a big difference in the scheme of things. But if enough of us begin to care then maybe we can make an impact. And while the effort may seem futile, I remain hopeful. Hopeful that things will turn around. Hopeful that the next trip to Austin there are a few less homeless people on the corners with signs.
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