The Bubble

I had a conversation yesterday with an older gentleman who told me that he wasn’t willing to give his money to a certain city. That city is Portland. And it is a shit show in my opinion of all the things that are hard about thousands of people living together.

It’s not unique. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle have similar vibes. Even Atlanta has many places that echo problems that I’ve seen there. 

I know Portland pretty well. I’ve been there more times than I could count easily and for about nine months I lived just north of the city in one of the upper boroughs. 

Tents. Begging. Social programs that can’t meet the needs of the thousands of people that have been bussed there from other ‘cleaner’ cities to get them out of their hair.  Do your research, there are cities that literally put people on buses and bus them to places like Portland to get them off their whitewashed streets.

And while I do mostly agree with this gentleman, I think we’re missing a big item. The bubble that we put ourselves in so often. I know I have one. I have found that as I get a little older than there are places that I am not comfortable going. places that I don’t want to be around as much or even people I’d rather avoid. I’ve gotten to where I’m a pretty snobbish lower-middle class/upper-lower class man.

And if this was just about economic standing and trying to provide the best for myself and those around me, that would be perfectly OK. 

But it’s not. 

Portland needs people. It needs people that care. Just like Atlanta needs people that care. There are so many broken hearts and yes, there’s addiction and there’s laziness and there’s just knowing that you can get by with as little as possible, but there’s also a lot of mental health issues and a lot of hurting people that could use a hot meal and a conversation.

I’m not talking about rescuing everyone. But maybe we could spend a little bit of that money we spend on the new clothes, that trip, the exquisite meal and put it towards one person at a time. Give time to get face to face with someone who isn’t like us - and maybe find that were made alike than we think.

One bad decision.  One bad month financially. One slip. And we’re in their shoes.

I’m not a fan of Portland. I love a little boy who lives about 35 minutes west of the city. I wasn’t happy when I was there and even though I know they’ve cleaned up a lot of the tents, there’s still a huge vagrancy issue that is so hard to watch. 

I took my daughter and my youngest downtown a couple weeks ago while I was there and it’s still hard. But it’s also trying to find its place again. Maybe it’s trying to clean up a little bit? 

Maybe we need to help give some spiritual cleansing. Pray, reach out, give. 

Not just money, but give of ourselves. 

~ Peace

The Burtle