Nov. 11 is Veterans Day, for many people just another paid holiday enjoyed by government employees. That is, it is a holiday unless you are a homeless veteran.
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that nearly one in four homeless persons is a veteran. Shocked? You should be, because these are the people who served you, many of whom risked their lives when they went off to fight this country's wars. Even more shocking is the rising number of female veterans who are on the streets. Though this latter number is still not very high, it is rising every year.
To honor our homeless veterans, the parishioners at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C. will hold a Veterans Day commemoration and meal for homeless men and women. The Rev. Randolph Charles, rector of the parish, tells me that they intend to feed as many as 300 veterans who live on the streets of our national capitol. I will be there wearing an apron and helping to serve up the plates. You see, I am a veteran myself, and these men and women, figuratively my brothers and sisters in arms, are people who need me. And I need them.
Like most of you, I'd rather not believe that there are homeless veterans, and if there are, I'd like to think that they are on the street -- sleeping under park bushes and atop sidewalk grates, some with nothing more than an old cardboard box to protect them -- because they couldn't make it through their tour of duty in the military service to which they once belonged. In other words, I'd like to believe these homeless veterans are defective and broken people who lack the will to get a job and live a normal life. Yet, that is just my fantasy about a world that does not exist.
In fact, many of these homeless veterans served with honor. Many of them received military decorations for their bravery and heroism. Some were officers, and some others even served enough years to be honorably retired. Like many others, I believe that homelessness is a blight on our country. However, it is even more of blight if the homeless persons are service veterans.
So what do the homeless veterans have to give to me? I've been working with homeless persons for more than 20 years now. When I first started working with them I was an active duty Navy chaplain who had everything going for him. At least that was what I thought before I began working with the homeless, many of whom I found were veterans. What I learned was that when I gave a man a blanket -- as did soldier Martin of Tours in the 4th century -- or gave a mother a mat on which to sleep, or gave a child a stuffed animal to help her make it through the night, that their simple "thank you" was something I needed in order to be more human. I learned that the Jesus Christ whom I claimed to follow had a bias toward the weak. Jesus' calling was to act as I believed by serving veterans in need.
Bishop James "Jay" Magness is Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries of The Episcopal Church. Based in Washington DC, he is responsible for the pastoral care and oversight for armed forces chaplains, military personnel and families as well as oversight of federal hospitals, prisons, and correctional facilities.
Paul Rieckhoff: Veterans Day: Today, Let's Show Our Vets We've Got Their Backs
Pittsfield a haven for homeless veterans - The Boston Globe
Veterans make up 1 in 4 homeless - USATODAY.com
The Issue of Homeless US Veterans
Study: Vets a quarter of the homeless - U.S. news - Military ...
Homeless veterans face new battle for survival - CNN
Where I live the local AFB and a slew of other social service agencies facilitate a "Homeless Veterans Stand Down"...a big event where homeless veterans, and some civilians also have the opportunity to go through a maze of tents and get free clothes, grooming items, and selected military surplus..(This year was sleeping bags...both Polar and Mod styles.) There is also a lunch provided at the function. Also, the VA, here also has housing vouchers for homeless veteran, as well, through the housing authority office, downtown....
I bet you would.
Which means charitable action and the morality that inspires said action come from another source: one that is natural in origin rather than supernaturally concocted, because such empathic feelings exist independently of any religion that claims a monopoly over morality.
What Americans cannot see when all the gleeful flag-waving subsides is these veterans have nothing to return home to. Thanks largely to Republicans responsible for the relentless shipping of American jobs to Communist China, India, Singapore, Korea, Mexico, and Central America via the NAFTA, CAFTA, & FTAA agreement. What veterans are left with are deplorable conditions, staggering unemployment, homes foreclosed by corrupt banks, diminishing benefits, and a disdainful military who has no further use for them. Undoubtably these veterans must cringe in the face of encouraged platitudes: "Thank you for your service," and is seen no more.
All the more reason to render aid.
While the civilian world does operate somewhat differently than the military, it's not THAT radically different, there's still 24 hours in a day, earth still revolves around the sun, so forth, and so on, just like in the military. What IS different is that acting like a robot and sleeping in your assigned cubicle probably isn't going to cut the mustard, 'outside'. There's less structure in civilian life, that is, unless you screw up and break the law egregiously, in which case, you'll be going back to a structured environment called 'jail'. But, regardless, you must strive to think, and do, on your own. Muster up some of that willpower, start reading your local paper with some regularity, and find an occupation and an activity to engage yourself in. You made it through 6 years of military service, that's good, that also means you can do this. People in civilian life sometimes also lose their bearings, and need to get back 'on track' and feel like they're accomplishing something, like they have a purpose in life.
What do you like to do? What interests you? What are you good at? What do you think of as 'fun'? Ponder on these questions, as they will have a lot of bearing on helping you make your next choice. Now that you're not part of the Borg hive there anymore, you're going to have to take more initiative in your life, and that starts with some concentrated thinking. What's next for you? You've received your last marching order, what's next for you, civilian? World of opportunity, out there.