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Parallels

from Ghost Town Rockers by Stray Bullets

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Poverty and homelessness are huge issues that are often ignored in favor of more glamorous causes, until some million dollar supermarket chain like Tesco in the U.K. installs anti-homeless spikes outside their stores, or until some asshole city like Columbia, S.C. decides to make homelessness illegal and ship their homeless population to detainment camps (to clean up the city for the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement...seriously?), and then it gets hyped on social media for fifteen seconds and then everybody forgets about it and goes about their business of getting Kardashians shoved down their throats and wondering which particular U.S. trained terrorist faction is gonna get their hands on a nuke and end the world. But I digress.

Why are we so quick to sweep the homelessness issue under the rug, when it's so rampant and so evident? Cos we're fucking terrified. We label them “The Homeless” and put up a wall between “us” and “them” in an effort to distance ourselves from the possibility, because each and every one of us is just one lost job, one market crash, or one dotcom bubble burst away from being stepped over trying to sleep on a subway grate. I'm not trying to tell you that you gotta empty your pockets every time someone asks you for a handout. All I'm asking is that instead of pretending that you don't see them or hurrying past mumbling that you don't have any change, you look them in the eye. Acknowledge their humanity. Cos in reality, it's just dumb luck that that isn't you.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of organizations that are trying to combat homelessness in this country. A few that are helping to support drastically underserved populations in the Boston area are the Committee to End Elder Homelessness (www.hearth-home.org), who partner with developers to build affordable housing for senior citizens, Youth On Fire (www.aac.org/about/our-work/youth-on-fire.html), a drop-in center in Harvard Square that caters to homeless teenagers, and Rosie's Place (www.rosiesplace.org), the first women's shelter in the U.S. If you're interested in helping fight homelessness, these are some good places to start. And if you're interested in learning more about the causes and trials of homelessness, go start a conversation with a homeless person. You might learn a little something about yourself while you're at it.

lyrics

ON THESE STREETS FORGOTTEN SOULS COME BURROWING THROUGH DAYLIGHT, START AGAIN, THESE TRAGEDIES UNFOLDING, WHAT BEGAN AS QUESTS FOR BETTERMENT, INVISIBLE TO NAKED EYES, COULD YOU OR I HAVE FALLEN TOO, THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES, AND FAILING PROMISES TO FOLLOW THROUGH...

CARDBOARD CARTON TUMBLES OVER, HUMAN CONTENTS SPILL OUT ON THE GROUND, NO ONE CHECKS FOR A PULSE, FOR FEAR OF WHAT TO DO IF ONE IS FOUND, A SIDEWAYS GLANCE, A TWINGE OF GUILT, SOON DISAPPEARS, HE MADE HIS BED, DRUNK, STRUNG OUT, SICK, BUT IN YOUR EYES I SEE THAT HE'S ALREADY DEAD...

RETRACT THE HANDS THAT FEED, IGNORED, DISTAINED, SHUNNED AND DENIED, FOR FEAR OF GNASHING TEETH, WE WALK AWAY TO LIVE OUR LIVES, DREAD THE REFLECTION YOU MIGHT SEE, AND PARALLELS THAT YOU MIGHT FIND, THE WEAKEST LINK DESTROYING WHAT REMAINS, THESE CHAINS OF HUMANKIND...

LOST CHILDREN SPANGING BY THE STATION, LINED UP OUTSIDE MISSION WALLS, A FLEETING THOUGHT TO MAKE A CHANGE, BUT SALARIED POSITIONS CALL, A DIRTY JOB, AND BETTER LEFT TO STRONGER HEARTS THAN YOURS AND MINE, A FUTURE EULOGY, “I'M SORRY, I JUST COULDN'T FIND THE TIME”...

RETRACT THE HANDS THAT FEED, IGNORED, DISTAINED, SHUNNED AND DENIED, FOR FEAR OF GNASHING TEETH, WE WALK AWAY TO LIVE OUR LIVES, DREAD THE REFLECTION YOU MIGHT SEE, AND PARALLELS THAT YOU MIGHT FIND, THE WEAKEST LINK DESTROYING WHAT REMAINS, THESE CHAINS OF HUMANKIND...

DOWNTOWN LIGHTS IGNITING PASSIONS, BOUGHT AND SOLD FOR COLD HARD CASH, AND CASUALTIES ARE LEFT BEHIND, WHILE WE DRIVE HOME, LOCK DOORS IN WARMER CLIMES, I DON'T KNOW HER STORY, AND PERHAPS I NEVER WILL, SHE'S JUST A FACE UNDER A STREETLIGHT, LOCKING EYES WITH MINE SHE TAKES THAT BITTER PILL...

RETRACT THE HANDS THAT FEED, IGNORED, DISTAINED, SHUNNED AND DENIED, FOR FEAR OF GNASHING TEETH, WE WALK AWAY TO LIVE OUR LIVES, DREAD THE REFLECTION YOU MIGHT SEE, AND PARALLELS THAT YOU MIGHT FIND, THE WEAKEST LINK DESTROYING WHAT REMAINS, THESE CHAINS OF HUMANKIND.

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from Ghost Town Rockers, released October 7, 2014

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