The next time I see a homeless person, I am going to thank them for their service, for they are the warriors and veterans that truly deserve our tribute. They are the walking wounded of the perpetual class war created and maintained by the power-lust of the greedy. I think we should be throwing them parades and publicly applauding the courage and strength that it takes to survive without participating in atrocity.
We should hold forth their willingness to suffer shame and ridicule for refusing to consume more than they need as an example to our young. Instead, we use them as scarecrows in the killing fields of human dignity and compassion to frighten our children into obedient and unquestioning compliance. We rob them of their godliness along with their cleanliness as we force them to become living manifestations of the fearful filth within our own souls.
If growing up means seeing things as they really are, there are some things that I see clearly at the ripe old age that I have managed to reach after having survived past my socially declared expiration date. One of those things is that what we call civilization is actually a system of brutal enslavement based on the concept of seizing and holding hostage everything necessary for survival. Land upon which to peacefully exist, water to drink, medical care, and even the company of other human beings are withheld in exchange for servitude. A man’s home, after all, is his castle.
To be rewarded by the masters with the things necessary for survival, I must enrch oil companies by buying gasoline to drive to a despicable job in which one third of my earnings are taken by a corrupt government to wage perma-war. Shall I work at a bank and exploit the poverty of others? Shall I work for an insurance company that places bets on people’s lives for profit? Shall I work for a retail chain selling items created by slave labor? Shall I demand someone’s home for the privilege of having their disease cured? Most job creators are nothing more than tax collectors rewarded by government.
I am beginning to view the homeless in a whole new light—as superior. While there are of course homeless people who engage in violent acts, on the whole, they are the only group of people who truly live according to the precept “Do no harm”. They do not contribute to the war machine, to the system of wage slavery and exploitation, to oil and insurance companies, to the consumer culture that has consumed this society’s soul.
Of course, these ideas are nothing new. Diogenes spoke out against the original democracy based on land ownership and slave labor. He lived in a barrel while denouncing the hypocrisy of spouting moral ideals while engaging in the ownership of human beings. For me, it has become a question of whether I choose to be the killer or the killed, for those are the only options given by the masters with the weapons and bombs. Either participate in a heartless and corrupt system and comfort yourself with your word being law within the walls of your own castle, or live within the walls of the castles of others according to their laws.
As a modern-day Cinderella, I choose not to hope to be rescued from poverty by the very prince who created and maintains it for his own personal profit at my expense, and the expense of others. I choose not to contribute my talents to the kingdom in exchange for being allowed to live in luxury if that luxury demands that others starve or continue to exist in the depths of despair, devoid of hope and dignity.
No, I’m not trying to be a martyr for a cause. I’m only trying to regain the humanity I was born with, before it was corrupted and perverted by our collective corporate masters. If I can achieve that, I will consider that my life has been a success.
The Big Picture 