An Irony about Homelessness within the Wealthiest Nations

My friends: 

These are thoughts I was inspired to contemplate and compose after my friend Josephine Siedlecka (who lives in the UK) posted a photo and comment on social media having to do with the unfortunate plight of homeless people living, ‘existing,’ sleeping, and dying on our streets, and the irony of the reality of this problem in the wealthiest of nations.   

I know your angst Josephine.  😞

Over half the inhabitants of our planet are starving, all over the globe the poor and the marginalized are oppressed and/or politically disenfranchised, many people throughout the world are enslaved by untreated illnesses and/or addictions, and while senseless wars rage-on and kill innocent people, the wealthiest of countries constantly continue to spend billions every year strengthening their militaries all the while producing unnecessary armaments and weapons of mass destruction. 

But even so, there are some who live among us who could care less about the plights of their fellow human beings. Many of these such scoundrels have stored-up obscene quantities of “things” as treasures.  They own various amounts and types of nonessential possessions they don’t need or even ever use.  The most pressing concerns of such people seem to be their preoccupation with the gains they’ve made, or the losses they’ve sustained, in their latest investment schemes.  And these wealth-mongers may lose sleep and get headaches when they can't make timely decisions about which luxury home, and/or exotic destination, they would want to visit and use for their next far-flung vacation (and when they take their holidays in such places, they will isolate themselves from the “undesirable locals” by hiding-out on nearby restricted islands, or behind walls and gates that preserve their “privacy,” and protect them from the possibility of being bothered by whatever “riffraff” might otherwise disturb their “peace” and sense of decorum).  

They scorn the presence of homeless “bums” and “degenerates” who beg for pennies and sleep on on our streets, and they won't lift a finger to help them.

But . . . 

“God has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly, has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich has sent away empty.” 

There is hope!!!!  

Let's encourage each other, and the most needy among us, with this message of hope!   Amen! 

Peace, Friar Timothy