The “Great Society” is “Living on the Edge”

“Presidents need operational intelligence – not just intellectual intelligence – to know everything about people and political forces.”  – Joseph A. Califano, Jr.

 “There’s something wrong with the world today
I don’t know what it is
Something’s wrong with our eyes
We’re seeing things in a different way
And God knows it ain’t his
It sure ain’t no surprise, yeah”

-From Song “Livin’ On The Edge” by Aerosmith

Source: Musixmatch

Traveling to the edges of the world, many of us have found ourselves in big cities, seeing the art and beauty of the past. The present, not so pretty. In the real world away from our mobile devices we find those who are not so mobile. If you’ve visited America’s big cities, New York to San Francisco, you’ve come across if not stumbled on the homeless.

Hands extended, I have reached my hand into my pocket, again and again and again. America, this is not working. Where is this “great society?” Recalling the words ofJoseph A. Califano, Jr., “…get into the arena…” I felt I could do more. How? As an undergraduate student in 2012, I reached out to Mr. Califano having been inspired after reading his 2004 book Inside, A Public and Private Life.

Being ahead of his time and creating a “few waves,” Mr. Califano’s many roles included being Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), “a McNamara whiz kid, an LBJ assistant, an architect of the Great Society, the Washington Post lawyer during Watergate, the originator of the anti-smoking campaign, the founder of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. . .”

There is a critical need for someone like Joseph A. Califano, Jr. People are living and dying on the edge.

“Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. If I should die before I wake…”

“Wisdom of the Crowds,” Go and Fund Them!

What led to their situation? Loss of loved one or a job, health related problems followed by bankruptcy, victim of traumatic event, soldiers of war …Whatever the case, no one plans to leave their home and live on the streets.

Vehicle accidents grab peoples’ attention almost as much as people jumping off a building or bridge. As soon as it’s over, people are nowhere to be found or concerned for the victim’s family.

Yet, reported contributions in the hundreds of thousands have been raised thanks to those donating to social platforms where one goes to fund someone or other. “Victims,” complete strangers people we know nothing about other than what their families say, appear to be worth more dead than alive.

Homeless are alive, but by the response of the public they might as well be dead. Millions of people and children around the world live and die on the street. Who is going to go and “fund” them?

I suppose it’s easier to discount the homeless as being responsible for their situation. By doing so, you separate yourself from them. Their problem is not your problem. Well, not yet. At some point in life, “shit happens” to us all.

Brutal and cold you say. Yes, and that’s exactly what homeless face daily living on the streets – Dangerous environment and freezing temperatures. 

Sure, it’s easy to simply donate to a fund for the family of a victim. You’ll never have to face the victim because no matter where they’re buried, it’s “not in your back yard.”

Economic Freedom v “It’s a Free Country”

How and why is this happening?  People across the nation lost their economic freedom. Sure, “it’s a free country.” Free for all to speak but only a few with the stability of health, job, education and a home – Economic Freedom!  

Due to the failures and corruption of the past three administrations and the current weak one, many more people having lost the means for shelter will end up on the streets and ultimately six feet underground losing their battle with disease, debt or addiction, all their freedoms.

Mr. Califano’s message to me, “The greatest reward comes when individuals like you get into the arena to make this nation a better place-fairer and full of opportunity for all…” What I understood from his words is that our participation in our communities is a reward in itself.

Individuals alone may not be able to fix the problems of society as a whole but we can help victims who fall prey to the “sick system” we are all part of. No system, capitalist or socialist, is perfect but clearly the U.S. system is not working for the majority. Let’s face it, “The Sickness is the System,” the title of the book by Richard Wolff.

Listen, “shit happens” to the best of us no matter our successes. But it does not define us. We are more than just our bad luck or wrong decisions. As Top Domestic Advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Mr. Califano understood this as he writes in his book, “The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson.” Book is filled with personal stories and pictures that bring people and events to life.

Yet, it was Appendix C, a photocopy of a letter with a return address in Canada dated “Christmas 1991” that touched me personally. In it I find the brave words of a daughter remembering her late father, “Knowing my father’s expectations to rise to the occasion never really allowed me that sort of purging of human emotion after his death.” Signed, “Luci.”

Are we living in Lyndon Johnson’s America as Mr. Califano states in his introduction? It appears so. His three chapters, “Happy Days,” “Sleepless Nights,” and “Nightmare Year” in his 1991 book eerily describe the beginning and end of 2001 and 2020. Except now, in 2021 the days and nights are nightmarish. Mr. Califano offers his suggestions in his “Lessons to the Future Presidents.”

President Joe Biden, Sir, I’d like to point to one: “Presidents need operational intelligence – not just intellectual intelligence – to know everything about people and political forces.”

My message to the next generation is inspired by a man who understands the inside of America, Joseph A. Califano, Jr. Get into the arena of those “Living on the Edge.”

Build “gofundhomeless” and make it “go viral.” Take part in creating opportunities, not handouts, so people can rebuild their lives from tragedy and restore some of their pride and triumph.

  “They’ll see us no matter where we are

Cause we got the fire
We got the fire
Show the world the impossible is possible

“It’s time to open up your hands
Don’t leave it up to chance
We can do anything”

From Song “Impossible is Possible” by Black Violin

Source: LyricFind