sometimes I hate people

I woke up angry this morning.

Angry at selfish middle class people who say "not in my back yard."

It's bad enough to wake up to news of how many car bombs exploded last night and which politician was indicted yesterday, but when, in the midst of all this crap that's going on in the world, I hear about some community group crying out against organizations who are trying to help people simply because of their own unscrutinized, knee-jerk fear (and perhaps concern for their property value), well, that's the last straw.

(big breath here)

I am referring to the neighbourhoods of Sunalta and Scarboro in Calgary who are in an uproar over the half-way house the John Howard Society would like to build there.

Everyone praises the John Howard Society for the work they do, but no one wants them down the street. The idea of giving ex-cons a second chance, grace, forgiveness, rehabilitation, is lovely as long as they don't have to participate.

Why can't they give the JHS a little credit? They've been doing this kind of thing for a long time. They have results and studies and research backing them up. They want to do this right and make it a success. They're not going to thoughtlessly put children's lives at risk. It is not in their best interests to do a crappy job and let a bunch of child molesters loose on local schools.

If it was their brother just getting out of jail and needing a hand to reintegrate into the community, they would be singing a different tune. Then it would be "our callous society is filled with prejudice. No one will let the past be the past. If he can't get a job and start a new life, he's in danger of re offending."

No one has any empathy.

No one can step outside their little bubble of personal experience to look around and see other people's lives going on, other people needing their help, other people being affected by them.

Instead of pressuring city hall to keep all the down-trodden and disenfranchised corralled in a ghetto to protect the rest of us, each one of us, 'the privileged', needs to take responsibility for our role in a society where so much suffering and crime exists, and help to find solutions.

I get tired of people telling me "it's so wonderful that you help people with your job. Keep up the good work!"

I bite my tongue to keep from saying "why don't you shut up and help me?"