Bedding Down in Public

Elberon, NJ May 28, 2000
Aaron H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome. BEDDING DOWN IN PUBLIC
In Santa Cruz, California it was against the law to be poor. If you slept
on the streets you could be arrested. Just being poor was not against the
law - it was bedding down in public that aroused the ire of the citizens of
Sata Cruz. Now this is about to change because the good citizens there will
no longer support rigid standards that once applied.

I have slept sitting up in airports, train stations, on the ground in
various countries and found that it was not my preferred manner of handling
nighttime unconsciousness. In those instances when I was young and in the
military I never liked nor got used to it. I am one of those who seek sleep
to unravel the sleeve of care and arise at the end refreshed and ready to
take on the world. Now my sleep is disturbed by periods of marching to an
inner urge to visit my bathroom. I have often wondered what the poor do who
have no bedrooms and sleep on the streets and have the same urge. Where are
their bathrooms?

I would rather not be poor, homeless and bed-less anywhere in the world. I
also would rather that there be ways in our 21st society to provide answers
to homelessness, bed-lessness and provide these and bathrooms to those less
fortunate than ourselves. And, thereby hangs a short tale.

When I taught a course on sensitivity towards minorities and people with
different backgrounds for graduates at Monmouth before it became a
university we sought answers to this perennial problem. One solution that
suggested itself was the same one now employed in Santa Cruz. This is to
provide a sleeping area (I preferred using public buildings which were
ordinarily closed at night), portable bathrooms, and safety assurances of
police protection rather than police enforcement of laws against being poor,
homeless and bed-less.

Poor people are our people and, I hope, are worthy of being treated like
people rather than animals despised as feral since such animals ran wild,
had no owners and slept out on the street. I think that providing protected
areas where the homeless can sleep is a good start. What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10