Friday, August 22, 2003
My eldest brother is safe at last at Lyons Vets Hospital. His life had been in grave danger for years; he was suffering under a terrible, degrading poverty & was constantly threatened with homelessness. He's a Vietnam vet & he was at the farthest possible extremity before going off the cliff altogether. My sister saved his life. She didn't do it the way she wanted or expected to do it, but the goal was accomplished in the totality, if not in the details. The way I knew it had to be done. Weeks, months, years passed as his situation worsened. & why? His basic needs & wants are absurdly modest. He demonstrated how much he was willing to go without. He is a good, undemanding neighbor; eccentric, funny & intelligent & educated. Give him his deserved small space somewhere he won't get murdered if he goes outside after dark. Give him his rent, his food stamps, his cheap ciggies & take-out coffee & newspaper. Give him a part-time job in local book or hardware store, a bicycle, a good radio & let the guy quietly go about being who he is for the rest of his life. The people who encounter him daily will always say hello & stop to chat. He's that kind of person.
People cannot agree on the means to a goal until the goal itself is agreed upon.
