Helping at Home a Great Place to Start Change in the World

What do we do with people who "don't fit in" to the normal game of life in our culture?

We are supposed to go to school, get a job, hold it down, buy a house — if possible, start families, take care of them, grow old and move on ... That's the drill and its not a bad one. 

What about these other folk though ... the "Others," let's call them? There are always people around who dont fit in. Maybe they didn't make it through high school or college, maybe something happened to them when they were young, maybe they didn't have the role models you or I did, or the resources. Maybe they were ill, mentally or physically. 

For some reason, some folks dont stick with the program or the program doesnt stick with them. Some kids fall through the cracks, having no parental support or worse, serious abuse from their parents. They wont be excelling in school, they won't even be average. No one helps them with homework, they have no quiet place to study, no one cares whether they pass or fail. They end up fulfilling the expectations of those who label them as failures, as misfits, as bad kids. They drop out of the game. 

Others are average performers, but events in life effect them adversely and begin to reduce their effectiveness — sometimes slowly, sometimes drastically. They may make some poor decisions, maybe they get into drugs or alchohol a bit too heavily. Addictions can expand your problems very fast. Maybe they are just not socially skilled, and their awkwardness around others — or "oddness" — spins them to the side of the road. 

Large externals, an auto wreck, fighting in a war, natural disasters, economic collapse, etc., can put a huge hole in one's ability to live the normal life. You can only determine your response, but don't imagine that because there are examples of people who are devastated but then somehow triumph over the adversity, that you would as well — or that everyone "should" be able to just take a positive attitude and dig themselves out. Externals can be overwhelming. 

If you believe you could never be like these "Others," never become depressed, never lose all you own, never lose family, jobs, even your sense of purpose in life ... to my mind, you are simply wrong. Tornados, financial debacles, disease, accidents — these are not particular about who they effect.

In fact, any affairs in life have so many variables in them, there is so much that ultimately effects every event, it all may seem to be a juggernaut and every day we have a reasonably peaceful time we should be very grateful.

But what to do with these "Others."

I ask myself, how would I feel about this person if she or he was a member of my direct family. Should we ignore the person? Should we determine they are to be avoided, that their problems are of their own making so — the heck with them? Maybe they should just be shunted off to whatever systems we have in place to deal with them, regardless of the results. Food stamps, homeless shelters, unemployment pay — these should be enough. 

All great world religions and any humane philosophy informs us that, in so many words, these people are members of our family. Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Bahai Faith all contain this teaching and clearly indicate our responsibility to see that we are the brothers and sisters of the poor and the distressed. Nonreligious philosophies of merit contain the same thought ... compassion for our fellow human beings. 

We have to take care of our own ... and our own includes the "Others." We have to take care of the Fam'. 

Do you folks have any practical suggestions that we could consider for actions we could take personally right now, to help people in Port and/or Saukville? Our planet is our home, but our towns are great places to begin.

Let's kick it around!