Sympathy, Aid for the Homeless

I am always a bit baffled by the pretense of Christian charity our society evinces around Christmastime. For a number of nights now, certain armories have been opened so the homeless may get in out of the cold. The prime criterion for whether or not these facilities are made available for the most unfortunate is temperature. According to somebody’s book, 40 degrees is some sort of benchmark that allows our public institutions to have a heart for the destitute. Such generosity overwhelms me.

America is failing again. There are many jobs which need to be done in this country, which are not being done because Ronald Reagan and George Bush decided to “stay the course.” Our leadership has no social conscience, and our society has been brainwashed by the go-for-it crowd that social conscience is “too expensive.”

I would ask to whom? It is too expensive to the idle and working rich who might have to forgo a new Taj Mahal?

The cost of our present course of action is the ruin of the minds and bodies of those who the idle rich do not think are deserving of a function in our society. They will have a function, whether you like it or not.

RAY KIRKHAM, Twentynine Palms