To Protect and Serve

Do you remember the day when police cars boldly displayed the slogan “TO PROTECT AND SERVE” on cruiser doors? Compassion is a rare quality, especially among public servants; particularly among public servants who wield power.

Just as I say that, here’s a breath of mountain-fresh air from Aspen, Colorado.

City manager fires policewoman who used taser on homeless woman

"Your decision to use a Taser on an elderly woman who posed no immediate threat to you, herself, or anyone else in the community displays a complete lack of understanding of the values, philosophy and mission statement of the Aspen Police Department," City Manager Steve Barwick wrote in a memo delivered to (the fired patrolwoman).

The values, philosophy and mission statement of the Aspen Police Department sound venerable; where can I get hard copies?

Does anyone know if Aspen Police cars still display the slogan, “To Protect and Serve”?

I wonder if the City Manager of Aspen has any ideas on how to affect compassion and empathy in our public servants?

Compassion is a rare quality; it needs to be initiated and encouraged by City leaders, and executed by public employees. Compassion is one aspect of the workplace that doesn’t just trickle down.

Record Heat Kills

Record heat kills the homeless and vulnerable; that’s what the headlines read across the world, especially in Big Cities.

Why don’t Federal or City governments spend a few bucks and begin by keeping the public hydrated? Why can’t we install simple drinking fountains in shaded public places?

Why don’t churches, businesses and private groups fund and manage emergency toilet facilities placed in parks, on parkways and under bridges?

Why don’t neighborhoods invite providers of these essential services into their community public property for ‘day camps’, ‘evening meals’, or free ‘music in the park’ events?

Taking care of our homeless, working poor, and disabled isn’t rocket science! It’s called ‘compassion', and it’s a rare treat to experience it.

Thank you, friends; for your compassion, and your prayers!

The Road to Homelessness

I often hear the question, ‘Why are these people homeless.’ If you’ve ever been homeless, ever worked with the homeless, or have homeless friends, you know the answers can be as diverse as people are unusual. Homelessness comes in different colors, to assorted economic groups, under a variety of everyday circumstances. For sure, the road to homelessness is always lonely, most often frightening, and can come up on you with lightening speed. I know; I was homeless once. And it looks like I could be homeless again in a few short days.

For the past five years, my wife and I (and our dogs) have lived in our own home. We’ve done what we can to care for and keep up our home, we’ve always paid our bills (mostly on time), and we’ve governed our lives by Christian values, trying to think of others first.

Last night, I received a call from our mortgage holder. She politely reminded that my July house payment was past due (by two weeks), and calmly asked if I’d made arrangements to pay off our mortgage by August 1st. I had no idea what she was talking about, but apparently, our five year-old mortgage ballooned in five years. “Surely, you must have gotten a notice.” The only notice I received on my adjustable rate mortgage in five years (as interest, T-bills, etc. dropped) was a notice two months ago that my monthly payment had increased by $200.

I have no idea what is going on. I don’t know the mortgage or banking industry, any more than I know how to wrench my own car. I like bankers about as much as I like dentists, and I’m too old for this. I have no idea if somebody will show up at my house on Tuesday, August 1st, with new locks for the doors.

I don’t drink, or I’d be drunk. I don’t do drugs, so I have no idea where to get any. I’ve worked with the homeless for over ten years, so I’m not worried about a place to live; but, I worry about my wife, our dogs, and the road we’ll be traveling down the next few days. I hope that road isn’t a road to homelessness. And I hope that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train!

I hope I never give up hope. Friends, please remember us in your prayers.

The Cure for Homelessness

Can there ever be a cure for homelessness?

As a youngster growing up, I got to participate in an experiment performed by the military (Air Force Office of Scientific Research) when I visited the dentist. I’m sure I wasn’t the only kid who got to taste (and experience) Electric Kool-Aid (LSD-laced juice). In the early 1950’s, the military experimented with ways to deal with large groups of injured children in the event of a catastrophe (Armageddon?).

My researches into ‘military drug testing’ lead me to an article posted in MIND MINDED PRODUCTIONS. This brief excerpt spurred me to thoughts that follow.

LSD Research by Jessica Locke
http://www.mindmined.com/public_library/nonfiction/jessica_locke_del_greco_LSD_research.html

“In 1999, the most effective method (though "effective" may be an exaggeration) for treating alcoholics (was) Alcoholics Anonymous. The goal of AA and of every twelve step program is to help the client develop a sense of spirituality that will replace the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Typically this program requires years of hard work on the part of the subject and the therapist, but twelve-step spirituality does appear to successfully cure alcoholics and drug addicts who are thoroughly dedicated to the cause of sobriety.

Captain Al Hubbard, a former OSS spy, was acting in accordance with the theory that spirituality can induce sobriety when he began to administer LSD to hard-core alcoholics in the early 1950's. His private experiments were so successful that he established LSD treatment centers at three major hospitals in Canada. He also convinced other researchers, such as Dr. Humphrey Osmond, to exploit the spiritual aspects of the LSD trip.

Before Hubbard introduced Osmond to the spirituality theory of sobriety, Osmond had been using LSD to induce a nightmarish experience involving delirium tremors in his patients, believing that only those alcoholics who reached "rock-bottom" could recover. Osmond became convinced that Hubbard's method was preferable after he performed an experiment based on the new theory at Weyburn Hospital. Osmond administered a single high dose of LSD to 1000 hard-core alcoholics. Fifty percent of his subjects did not drink alcohol again. (Lee and Shalin, 50)

Osmond continued this research for thirteen years, finally concluding that "LSD therapy can turn a large number of alcoholics into sober members of society. Even more importantly, this can be done very quickly and therefore very economically" (Lee and Shalin, 50).”


MY THOUGHTS:

If LSD can induce nightmarish experiences that bring half of all alcoholics to a spiritual aspect of recovery, might it also work to bring the homeless around to being ‘homed?’

If the AA works to induce familial experiences that lead an alcoholic to a spiritual program of recovery, might a similar 12-step program help lead the homeless to a program of being ‘homed?’

Wouldn’t either effort, (administering LSD to the homeless to induce nightmarish experiences, or implementing a 12-step spiritual program to evoke familial experiences) be cheaper or more cost-effective than any ‘homeless program’ to date? Which effort to bring an end to homelessness would be most humane? Is either effort worthy of a try; an experiment; an attempt?

Please comment. Just don’t look to me for the answer; I already gave at the dentist!