I was walking in Adams Morgan, a vibrant neighborhood, last week with my daughter and we saw a young African American man who was convulsing and vomiting on the ground. This was at 8:00 in the evening and there were lots of people walking past this man. One other woman called 911 with me. People are checked out and don’t want to see this.
I believe that this is part of the problem of the normalization of the heartlessness that we see.
Agreed. The normalization of heartlessness will not stand so long as we counter it just like you and that other lady did. Thank you so much for calling 911.
Thank you soooo much!!! What a powerful post. Early on Jesse said something really interesting re: homeownership being seen as a device for wealth building. My house is almost paid for now. I am so grateful. I could not afford to buy my own house if I were in the market today. My small, bucolic, artsy, Oregon wine country home has become unaffordable for so many working people. We came here after we got priced out of Portland where we had been active, contributing members of our community. I like your phrase "amoral capitalism," Marianne. Making a.profit does not mean the impoverishment of workers. This heartless fascism against "other," must stop, yesterday!
While many politicians deem the Homeless as merely an aesthetic problem (an unsightly inconvenience at best, deterring business at worst), in truth these vulnerable people are our neighbors and part of our community. In fact, Jesus underscored this as one of the two most important precepts originating from the Old Testament: to love one's neighbor as one's self. Yet...
"As the dawn of togetherness comes closer, evil forces will try to ensure that this dawn does not arise, again through fear."
"Maitreya's Teachings, The Laws of Life", p. 219
Lack of secure housing looms large for many people, for we are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Yet we are in the majority, so why can we not organise more effectively for a different kind of reality? Let's visualize and make manifest a just society!
The great teacher Maitreya states, "There will be no peace without justice, and no justice without sharing." We can practice opening our hearts even wider, even today.
The normalization of cruelty calls for collective moral outrage and unrelenting repudiation of this administration's assaults on us and on our rights and freedoms. Yes, it takes ALL of us to stand up against this, constantly and consistently.
I have never felt hate before like I feel it now for this administration. I know that Marianne educates us on love, and praying for our enemies, but damn that is hard.
Reframe the Narrative: Cruelty thrives on dehumanization. Laws criminalizing homelessness treat people as problems rather than human beings. Countering this requires consistently insisting on the humanity, dignity, and worth of every person—telling stories, highlighting faces and voices, making it impossible to ignore their reality. It is obvious, yet unlikely, that this narrative would be significantly facilitated if the media had the backbone to tell these stories.
If anyone on the top or government actually had a conversation with the homeless population about what they need to get off the streets, their solutions would without a doubt be cheaper than what our current government is proposing. Provide them a space - outdoors or in, offer them options, there’s no need for cages. No one belongs in a cage. It’s INHUMANE.
Not only that, but do you think the fbi or military want to waste their energy on hurting innocent wounded people? It’s way too over the top.
Cruelty is not just being normalized, it is being legislated into existence. Cities bulldoze encampments and call it “public safety” while families lose the only shelter they had. Politicians frame poverty as a moral failing while ignoring the fact that tens of thousands of unhoused people are already working jobs and raising children.
We should be clear about what this is. It isn’t policy. It’s trauma creation. It is state-sanctioned dehumanization. And when we tolerate it, we hand cruelty the microphone and let it preach as common sense.
The real question isn’t whether America can afford compassion. The question is whether we can survive without it.
An interesting synchronicity: I was just writing in my journal, "Trump has been a thing for 10 years now and he's corrupted the youth by normalizing amoral behavior." There's still time to turn this around, but Democrats have to play the new games as much as they don't want to. Brian Tyler Cohen said something interesting yesterday which rings true: They're good at the "strongly worded letter" [but bad at doing things with real impact].
Wait, do you really believe all this just magically started with the current administration? Or that there wasn't a problem that wasn't being addressed before now?
The Power of Compassionate Witnessing! Many actors on the world stage and many parts of self in Psyche are not witnessed compassionately. Our body selves experience life and can't break free of patterns that distort, neglect, ignore, deny, abandon and mistreat our core being, unless witnessed compassionately.
The homeless as if they just began during this administration! What has the government been doing during he last few decades. And California leads the pack.And the crime in these cities is deplorable. Oakland I know about, nobody wants to live in that city. It’s unsafe. Again Califirnia where the Governor hide the homeless for a foreign dignitary visitor.
It’ just does no good to keep the blame game. In stead there needs to be more constructive criticism and discussion.
No. No one is saying the homeless issue began during this administration. However, Trump's second term began with an historically massive heist of taxpayer funds via the gutting of federal agencies and impounding of funds appropriated by congress to help each state address this and other pressing issues. We're talking about billions in taxpayer funding impounded and redirected to fund the Republicans' "Bill Beautiful Betrayal" bill and whatever else Trump wants to spend it on. I remind, these are OUR tax dollars, not the government's. The act of redirecting these funds on his own volition is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. As though that weren't enough, we've had to foot the bill for his military birthday parade, golf and sports events outings, trip to Scotland to open another Trump golf course, $400 million "gift" (plane) from Qatar--God only knows what the Qatar government got in exchange for this, etc. Just recently, $934 million in defense funds that were earmarked to update/maintain our decades-old nuclear silos throughout the country were redirected by his DOD to refurbish Trump's $400 million plane. Again, billions and billions of OUR tax dollars to spend however Trump pleases. So, tell me. Do you think at least $1 billion of those tax dollars might help with homeless crisis?? Personally, Trump and his cronies belong in jail right now.
Marianne, your caring is so apparent, so real. Thank you for talking about this, for caring, for giving us a place to feel like our own hearts are heard and felt. And thank you for the clear calls to action.
This is so wrong!
I was walking in Adams Morgan, a vibrant neighborhood, last week with my daughter and we saw a young African American man who was convulsing and vomiting on the ground. This was at 8:00 in the evening and there were lots of people walking past this man. One other woman called 911 with me. People are checked out and don’t want to see this.
I believe that this is part of the problem of the normalization of the heartlessness that we see.
Agreed. The normalization of heartlessness will not stand so long as we counter it just like you and that other lady did. Thank you so much for calling 911.
Thank you soooo much!!! What a powerful post. Early on Jesse said something really interesting re: homeownership being seen as a device for wealth building. My house is almost paid for now. I am so grateful. I could not afford to buy my own house if I were in the market today. My small, bucolic, artsy, Oregon wine country home has become unaffordable for so many working people. We came here after we got priced out of Portland where we had been active, contributing members of our community. I like your phrase "amoral capitalism," Marianne. Making a.profit does not mean the impoverishment of workers. This heartless fascism against "other," must stop, yesterday!
While many politicians deem the Homeless as merely an aesthetic problem (an unsightly inconvenience at best, deterring business at worst), in truth these vulnerable people are our neighbors and part of our community. In fact, Jesus underscored this as one of the two most important precepts originating from the Old Testament: to love one's neighbor as one's self. Yet...
"As the dawn of togetherness comes closer, evil forces will try to ensure that this dawn does not arise, again through fear."
"Maitreya's Teachings, The Laws of Life", p. 219
Lack of secure housing looms large for many people, for we are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Yet we are in the majority, so why can we not organise more effectively for a different kind of reality? Let's visualize and make manifest a just society!
The great teacher Maitreya states, "There will be no peace without justice, and no justice without sharing." We can practice opening our hearts even wider, even today.
My latest name for him is Cruel T. It fits.
I joined the above-mentioned campaign and wrote Congress.
The normalization of cruelty calls for collective moral outrage and unrelenting repudiation of this administration's assaults on us and on our rights and freedoms. Yes, it takes ALL of us to stand up against this, constantly and consistently.
I have never felt hate before like I feel it now for this administration. I know that Marianne educates us on love, and praying for our enemies, but damn that is hard.
i appreciate your honesty, Mary. i've been calling for Grace, because Grace doesn't have to be earned or believed in to disarm the hater in me.
Reframe the Narrative: Cruelty thrives on dehumanization. Laws criminalizing homelessness treat people as problems rather than human beings. Countering this requires consistently insisting on the humanity, dignity, and worth of every person—telling stories, highlighting faces and voices, making it impossible to ignore their reality. It is obvious, yet unlikely, that this narrative would be significantly facilitated if the media had the backbone to tell these stories.
If anyone on the top or government actually had a conversation with the homeless population about what they need to get off the streets, their solutions would without a doubt be cheaper than what our current government is proposing. Provide them a space - outdoors or in, offer them options, there’s no need for cages. No one belongs in a cage. It’s INHUMANE.
Not only that, but do you think the fbi or military want to waste their energy on hurting innocent wounded people? It’s way too over the top.
Cruelty is not just being normalized, it is being legislated into existence. Cities bulldoze encampments and call it “public safety” while families lose the only shelter they had. Politicians frame poverty as a moral failing while ignoring the fact that tens of thousands of unhoused people are already working jobs and raising children.
We should be clear about what this is. It isn’t policy. It’s trauma creation. It is state-sanctioned dehumanization. And when we tolerate it, we hand cruelty the microphone and let it preach as common sense.
The real question isn’t whether America can afford compassion. The question is whether we can survive without it.
An interesting synchronicity: I was just writing in my journal, "Trump has been a thing for 10 years now and he's corrupted the youth by normalizing amoral behavior." There's still time to turn this around, but Democrats have to play the new games as much as they don't want to. Brian Tyler Cohen said something interesting yesterday which rings true: They're good at the "strongly worded letter" [but bad at doing things with real impact].
Wait, do you really believe all this just magically started with the current administration? Or that there wasn't a problem that wasn't being addressed before now?
The Power of Compassionate Witnessing! Many actors on the world stage and many parts of self in Psyche are not witnessed compassionately. Our body selves experience life and can't break free of patterns that distort, neglect, ignore, deny, abandon and mistreat our core being, unless witnessed compassionately.
The homeless as if they just began during this administration! What has the government been doing during he last few decades. And California leads the pack.And the crime in these cities is deplorable. Oakland I know about, nobody wants to live in that city. It’s unsafe. Again Califirnia where the Governor hide the homeless for a foreign dignitary visitor.
It’ just does no good to keep the blame game. In stead there needs to be more constructive criticism and discussion.
Just please just stop the blame game
No. No one is saying the homeless issue began during this administration. However, Trump's second term began with an historically massive heist of taxpayer funds via the gutting of federal agencies and impounding of funds appropriated by congress to help each state address this and other pressing issues. We're talking about billions in taxpayer funding impounded and redirected to fund the Republicans' "Bill Beautiful Betrayal" bill and whatever else Trump wants to spend it on. I remind, these are OUR tax dollars, not the government's. The act of redirecting these funds on his own volition is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. As though that weren't enough, we've had to foot the bill for his military birthday parade, golf and sports events outings, trip to Scotland to open another Trump golf course, $400 million "gift" (plane) from Qatar--God only knows what the Qatar government got in exchange for this, etc. Just recently, $934 million in defense funds that were earmarked to update/maintain our decades-old nuclear silos throughout the country were redirected by his DOD to refurbish Trump's $400 million plane. Again, billions and billions of OUR tax dollars to spend however Trump pleases. So, tell me. Do you think at least $1 billion of those tax dollars might help with homeless crisis?? Personally, Trump and his cronies belong in jail right now.
How do you see it discussed, Gordon? i see it discussed in the presence of compassionate witnessing.
Exemplified beyond rhetoric. Monies made available should not be swallowed up through administrative costs.
Marianne, your caring is so apparent, so real. Thank you for talking about this, for caring, for giving us a place to feel like our own hearts are heard and felt. And thank you for the clear calls to action.
Thank you!