90 year old Arnold Abbott arrested for feeding the homeless in public
Here's a story [1] , even if it doesn't quite capture the society we have descended to at times, it might be close.
A 90 year old man who has been feeding the homeless for decades was cited last week-along with two clergymen and another volunteer as part of his non-profit "Love Thy Neighbor"-for violating a recently passed ordinance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida which Mayor John Seiler describes as, "The ordinance does not prohibit feeding the homeless; it regulates the activity in order to ensure it is carried in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner". I can hear the guffaws already.
According to this story, "Since January 2013, 21 cities across the country have passed laws restricting public feedings and 10 more have similar rules under consideration. Nationwide at least 57 cities have limited or banned public feeding."
What Arnold Abbott, the 90 year old man has been doing all these years is hauling pans of roast chicken and potatoes to a downtown Fort Lauderdale park and feeding hundreds of people. And for his efforts he faces "up to two months in jail and hundreds of dollars in fines".
Funny, my sense is Abbott and his volunteers in feeding the homeless carried it out in an "appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner".
Quite simply, ALL these ordinances are sheer hypocrisy.
But let's assume this story is accurate and these type ordinances banning public feeding of the homeless are proliferating across the country. What does that say of the millions out there supposedly espousing our Christian-Judeo ethic where I thought you're supposed to care for the neediest?
So what are all those god fearing American churchgoers and yarmulke wearers doing besides attending church or synagogue services?
Oh I see cleansing their souls on their day of worship. But when it comes to the homeless whenever they might encounter a homeless person on a sidewalk or a public park they turn their heads away and scamper off as quickly as possible making sure they don't get too close for fear they might become "infected"; that of course as opposed to being human.
I can't say for sure but I believe a feature of the "occupy" encampments that proliferated across the country in 2011 was anyone, including of the homeless were invited to take part in being served the nightly meal. I'd say in the words of Fort Lauderdale's mayor these meals were "carried out in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner".
And we know how the authorities reacted almost in unison cracking down and shutting down all the occupy encampments.
It's quite possible these new ordinances against public feeding that have spread since 2013 are part of a general crackdown by the authorities in their jurisdictions against any display of a public gathering even if it might bring some temporary relief for those in need; presumably to make it "safe" for the entitled, gentrified and exceptional reducing the chance they might encounter some of the "great unwashed".
Maybe I'm being too harsh and love thy neighbor still is widespread in this country and I'm being too cynical.
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