Where’s our humanity?

Lowlife. Junkie. Degenerate. Bum. These are the people we dismiss because they are our lower echelon of society. They cost us money by committing crimes against our property and utilize our tax dollars being incarcerated again. They are dirty. They beg for money on the street corner. They would rather spend their money on beer and drugs than whatever obligations or responsibilities we believe they should be more concerned with. How can they forsake their families like they do?

Nobody ever sets out to be a bum, a lowlife, a junkie, or a burden to society. They are broken. They are traumatized. They are unloved. They are sad. They are lonely. They are hopeless. They need help. While it is not your responsibility to help or fix them, chances are the person who was responsible for their upbringing was broken, traumatized, unloved, sad, and lonely, too.

I don’t have the answers, but I think an awareness of the compassion needed is a good first step.

Someone I barely knew recently passed away. He was a criminal. He was a low-life. He was a junkie. He was a bum. He was alone when he died. His funeral had three people in attendance, none of whom were his family. It was announced on his Facebook page there would be a service. He had over 2,000 “friends” that couldn’t make it. He was unloved, unwanted, and disregarded by his family and society his whole life. How can it be his fault he died alone?

Jessica Borgan-Boyd

Spokane