Thanks for sharing your perspective, I found it to be enlightening and perspective widening. One of my close family members is very much like yourself, having been hospitalized many times with periods of independence in between. He was able to get on disability early in life thanks to some foresight by our parents, so luckily he’s never had to go through that awful waiting process, but otherwise a lot of your story is his story too. I am currently and have been for a while the person who supports him and tries to navigate with him through the impossible sea of bureaucracy to meet his most basic needs, and I share your frustration. Most of the institutions we do have in this country are absolutely byzantine to take advantage of and it’s only gotten worse thanks to COVID and the massive staff and doctor shortages at every healthcare facility that accepts patients on Medicare. It’s beyond maddening.
Regarding my original comment, for the most part I am not personally angry with those who are exhibiting the antisocial behavior, with the exception of the violent ones or those who make a habit of stealing from others to support a drug habit. Even the latter I can drum up some sympathy for, although it’s limited. That being said, I am angry that nothing is being done to separate the people who can’t or won’t behave decently in public from those who do. That isn’t fair to those who are willing and able to follow the basic principles and tenants of society. Children deserve to be able to play on a playground without having to worry about stepping on a used needle; something that they can’t currently do in some neighborhoods of the city I live in because the city government is too paralyzed with the fear of our activist community and lawsuits that they won’t evict the homeless camps that have set up shop there. That’s not okay. Neither is the open air chop shop that took over a local dog park. I could go on and on and on with examples like this, but I think my point is pretty clear.
I agree with you about the need to overhaul our safety net. To me it’s an imperative along the same order of importance as responding meaningfully to climate change. I found out recently that a shocking number of foster children become homeless after they turn 18. As I’m sure you know, that’s just one group that isn’t properly cared for under our current system. Sweeping and meaningful change is badly needed, and it’s needed right now.
And yet, outside the West Coast, this is barely a topic of discussion. It’s not on the agenda for either of the national political parties in any meaningful way. For that to happen, people need to get angry. But when people do get angry - say about a person peeing on their car - they often get shut down by well meaning, empathetic people. I see that as a problem. I feel that it’s entirely appropriate to be angry about the situation we find ourselves in, and to allow that anger to build, and to let the people in our government who are currently abdicating their duties to feel it, so they feel motivated to change.