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 When We Walk by Our Neighbors   

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ’s Birthday is a good day to keep American poverty in mind. On Wednesday, January 10, Rose Aguilar interviewed Kevin Adler (on KALW’s Your Call) the founder of Miracles Messages, as well as Terro, Miracle Money and Miracle Friend. The organization offers family reunification services, a phone buddy program, and basic income pilots for people experiencing homelessness. It was good to hear first-hand about a new approach to this ongoing, increasing, and heartbreaking societal “problem.” To listen to the inspiring interview, click the link below. For example, via a simple effort on social media, after 12 years of being “missing,” an unhoused man is helped by old friends and family. This approach originates from the one question Kevin kept asking the unhoused individuals he met on the streets as he connected: “Who knows about your situation?” NOBODY, was the answer every time.  A wonderful question – the same reply is very revealing. Throughout the radio program, Kevin emphasizes repeatedly in a kind voice: 

“The unhoused are our neighbors, not a problem to solve, they are people…” 


https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2024-01-10/miracle-messages-combats-homelessness-with-basic-income-program 

 


A new frame of mind brings possibilities. I needed to hear this precise choice of language; it affirms how I have been looking at our very American crisis. Basic income, yes, even universal basic income, yes! Economic Justice. And of course, it is not just about money. We all need community. Not all unhoused individuals might be suited for monthly payments. They might need a rehab program first. The many stereotypes just don’t apply to everyone (see my recent Stollen Story). First of all, our own benign helplessness and guilt are hindering us to see them as human NEIGHBORS. Beings with a history, strengths and talents, weaknesses and wounds, feelings and aspirations, like any of us housed people. The situation in the Stollen Story was such: Brady and Diane gifted me a good time, were excellent hosts, educated me, enriched my life.  


Recently the PBS Newshour, too, picked up this project’s success story. Miracle Messages is a private philanthropic group that has been giving unhoused people $750/month here in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After being studied for 6 months, it has become clear that this human approach based on respect, dignity, support toward self-agency, is doable, very effective (and even cost efficient). Not a surprise to me. Socialism is a bad word in America, and obscene inequality is widely accepted. I question why CEOs, and even pop stars and celebrities, deserve billions. Do we really need contemporary royalty? 

 

How many people are walking by their unhoused neighbors without ever looking into their eyes? 

 

This damages the heart, more than we know. 


 

Read Kevin’s back story: https://www.miraclemessages.org/about 



Comments

  1. KenJanuary 15, 2024 at 4:29 PM

    Thank you for the timely reminders and the links. A friend shared several MLK Jr. quotations today, including these:
    “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
    “Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.”
    And then I read this CNN headline: "The wealth of the world's five richest men more than doubled since 2020."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KarinaJanuary 15, 2024 at 4:59 PM

      The obscene reality is: the rich for the most part benefitted from the pandemic, siphoned off government money, benefitted from our misery, never paid back what they did not need, just like the robber barons – shameless. But Americans look up to the famous and rich, want to be one of them, and we ordinary people foster this mentality with celebrity culture as well.... "power" the great seduction, hence royalty might never die out....

      Delete
  2. SummerJanuary 19, 2024 at 8:45 PM

    Thank you for the introduction to Miracle Messages. I loved looking at the faces posted at their website, so open and receptive, and in most cases, joyful. Kevin is an inspiration. Here at the New Year, with so many world catastrophes, we need to hear good news.

    ReplyDelete

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