The headline read Hungarian Law Criminalizing Homelessness! Some 30,000 to 35,000 men, women and children are pushed into living in the street in Hungary because of economic conditions and are now subject to criminal sanction. The law has all the earmarks of being inhuman, punitive, out of another era, belonging to an authoritarian regime. It seemed to create such a burden for the poor, be so unfair to those who had reached the end of their rope. And then I realized that in Los Angeles and/or some of its surrounding cities, the homeless can’t be in underpasses, sleep on park benches, be in the awnings of building, block driveways, sleep in beach parking lots. If they are they are cited and often arrested.
In Hungary, Los Angeles, or anywhere else where such laws are passed the real criminals may not be the homeless, but those who enact them.
February 2012
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Mirror Image
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Confronting Ourselves
The new film of well known filmmaker Werner Herzog is about those who live on death row in the United States. Herzog, 69, says that the purpose is to humanize murderers not to excuse their crimes. “The crimes of the persons in the film are monstrous, but the perpetrators are not monsters.” To illustrate the people in his film have indeed committed horrible crimes, like that of Linda Carty who in order to steal a newborn horribly murdered the parents. The film also includes not often confronted realities such as the feelings of Hank Skinner convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two mentally impaired sons. At one point he got a reprieve 23 minutes before a scheduled execution and is able to record his feelings right before he thought he was going to die.
Herzog himself is firmly against the death penalty and thinks it reminiscent of the millions killed by the Nazis in his native Germany. “A state should not be allowed—under any circumstance—to execute anyone for any reason,” he said in a statement.
It’s easy for forget that death row inmates have a human side, that the death penalty may say more about our society than those who have committed crimes, and a film like that of Herzog’s helps us confront ourselves. -
Beyond What There Is
To you and me and most of us a linguine is a wet noodle, something bland only made useful if it is accompanied by a savory sauce. Not so for little Roma who turns two this week. To her a linguine is something soft and fun to explore. Soon it became a bracelet, and what was good for one arm was good for another. When she was done, she extended her arms, pleased with the result of her newfound adornment. And what was true for linguine was so with Emory boards, they became skateboards!
We loose our ability to see with new eyes. As we do we forget what else we loose, the ability to see beyond what there is.