One of my classmates from college runs a non-profit in the Pacific Northwest. The following is a recent post he shared on social media. His voice, this message, needs to be amplified. And so it goes:

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This is something that breaks my heart to acknowledge. But the hard truth is that there is increasing scorn for Blanchet House and Farm and other providers for serving people in need. Compassion, once revered, is now derided, with service providers disparaged as “so called do-gooders.” In a recent community meeting, I heard someone say (to great acclaim): “We need to do something about these people [homeless people].”

I wondered if by “doing something,” they meant feed, clothe, house, sooth, and care for “these people.”

I know. People feel frustrated and impatient. These are authentic human emotions. Even at Blanchet House, we sometimes feel frustrated and impatient. But we remind ourselves that it is one thing to be frustrated about someone’s behavior; it’s something else entirely to feel that way about the person. At Blanchet House, we understand that the behavior we witness often stems from trauma, mental illness, substance abuse, or simply because the person had a very horrible, terrible, rotten day or night.

We don’t judge the human being we serve for their character or condition, their despair or agony, their health or helplessness. We recognize that we often encounter someone at their most vulnerable moment. That waking up cold, wet, hungry, ill, battered, victimized, hungry, sleep deprived, in pain, and desperate and afraid about what the day or too too long night might bring has so much more to do with how someone shows up to our services than who they are as a person.

We remind ourselves that we can’t know the full history of experiences that has led someone to need our services. We also remind ourselves that whatever that history may be, it is very likely unimaginably terrible and heartbreaking.

Taking a sledgehammer to our current housing, mental health, and addiction crisis will not bring the solutions we crave. But even if it could, what then of the wreckage left in its wake. Dismantling essential support systems will not lead to sustainable or humane solutions. And if we continue down a path that scorns compassion and empathy, we may not like where we end up. Worse, we may realize that it is too late to restore these fundamental human values.”

Scott Kerman is the Executive Director at Blanchet House.

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