I look for signs that we are, as a people and a nation, getting better despite Trumpism and rampant Evangelical hypocrisy. I look, but I find the opposite. I find the we choose ugliness and hate, like in Atlanta where the city closed a homeless shelter and then started ticketing people for feeding the newly dispossessed homeless. Or in Denver, were the police take blankets and tents from homeless people. Or in San Diego where the homeless must move each Monday or face arrest.
Last week at a party, I listed to a married couple I’ve know for 20 years describe the horror of homeless people invading their community. They live in Newport Beach on the beach. A privilege known by few in my circle. I described being hassled by the police for feeding an old lady near where I work. A friend described feeding the homeless of Santa Anna. My privileged friends described working to push the homeless from their community. They chided me for feeding an old lady, saying, “It encourages homelessness.” It made me shiver. I took it as a sign of the pending apocalypse.