Like many, I’ve been enjoying Ken Burns’ “Country Music.” As background music during one of the early hours, the legendary Mavis Staples sang Stephen Foster’s sorrowful “Hard Times Come Again No More.”
The lyrics are from the perspective of a person with a pleasant life in comfortable surroundings. But the writer is mindful that while most of us “seek mirth and beauty, and music light and gay, there are frail forms fainting at the door.” Though “their voices are silent,” the song of the weary is a pleading wish that the hard times be over.
This is the attitude required of us all today when dealing with our homeless: an understanding that very few mentally healthy people, if given other options, would truly choose to live in Anchorage in a tent, beg from passers-by and consume alcohol as a primary source of nutrition.
Compassion needs to be the primary attitude when addressing the poorest of our society. Generous donations to service organizations such as Bean’s Cafe and the Salvation Army seem totally appropriate.
— Becky Faunce
Anchorage
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