Sunny Acres couple living in car with nowhere to go

It’s shameful that the United States of America, the richest most powerful country in the world, has even a single homeless person. Forget liberal / conservative divisions or ideologies, people who fall on hard times need support. This is the message of every philosophy of love or religion, and is the heart of ethics. So let’s not lose sight of compassion to our fellow man & woman.

If you care to really look at the heart of what causes homelessness, addiction and the problems these people suffer, you might not be so judgemental when you hear their stories. They are caught in many a crossfire on a social battlefield. You can enjoy it from your armchair, unless, of course it reaches into your family.

I’ve been to Sunny Acres repeatedly over the past several years. Whether you believe Dan DeVaul is exploiting these people, or running a program haphazardly, or creating some symbiosis where he enables the vulnerable to need him, one thing is abundantly clear from any perspective: many people need a place like Sunny Acres. And those who have suddenly found themselves thru many unfortunate means (whether thru disease, bad judgement, circumstance, addictions) to be vulnerable, you need a place like Sunny Acres in your community. But you may not think so:

For those who have not been there to talk with people there, you’d be very surprised to know that they love it. There is a real tangible sense of caring for each other, a community of like individuals who share and support each other, against the backdrop of meaningful work and self improvement. No place is perfect, and believe me, there are problems.

If you think Mother Theresa walked on water, or Ghandi was great, or Christ is the moral Superman, consider that as human beings, they all have one thing in common: they cared. Not saying DeVaul measures up to any of them, he’s as falible as they come. But he actually does something about those who are in need: he helps them. And he makes them accountable. And he forgives them, and tries again. Not so in the shelters. You’re banned for a month if you make a mistake. Oh, but we need rules, you say. Indeed, especially if they’re compassionate ones.

This couple could easily be you or I. Being poor is very expensive where the most ordinary tasks become monumental. Once you’re down, to get back up requires a lot of momentum and support. It takes time. And places like Sunny Acres, where you can stay put for a while–as long as you try–give you that time to rebuild. Not so at shelters where you’re carted back and forth based on the time of day. The Day Shelter, The Overnight Shelter. This is our government’s plan…keep you unstable under the guise of helping. Makes people chronic, dependent and unaccountable.

Now if Crandall, the Board of Supervisors, et al could venture beyond their technocratic blinders, they might indeed see that DeVaul is protecting these vulnerable people. Crandall says, “I’m not playing games.” But he doesn’t understand that the founder of Sunny Acres has a mission to watch over these people, who for all intents and purposes, are economic refugees, or victims of sexual abuse, or PTSD-stricken veterans, or mentally ill people. The government barely takes care of people, so let this man Dan DeVaul do it!

Dan is right, “it’s going to get ugly,” because these officials who allegedly represent and protect us, are purely reactive to insubordinate citizens who take morality into their own hands and exceed the government’s control.

In a society designed to champion the profit makers, to elevate the competitive, to allow the concentration of power in a defacto social Darwinist “might makes right” economy, it must be astounding the high degree of disciplined rationalization that these Technocrats must apply to interpret law that covers their fear of accountability and rebrands it as “justice.”

These are the real bullies of our time.