Sixty years ago the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Created the International Declaration of Human Rights on June 18, 1948. This document, like the Magna Charta in 1215, stands as a legacy of the best of the principles of cooperation and equality for all of the earth's citizens. These are rights that in this time are ignored more and more by this nation. Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt was the mainstay of this epic work.

What stands out in this document is that the rights and freedom of people who are oppressed both here and abroad is guaranteed. In this document we see that people from all nations struggled with the best and boldest principles of self-determination and interdependency of diverse cultures and peoples. The document also insights us to protect families, children, and provide for social and economic stability. How many nations, who were signers then, have violated almost everything in this great witness to our lives as independent and sovereign nations and thwarted the inalienable rights just as the present Executive branch of our government threatens our rights as people

Proclaims this Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the people of member states themselves and among the people of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed by nature with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, property or other status, or national or social origin.
Article 3
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Article 4
1. No one shall be held in slavery or involuntary servitude.
2. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 5
Everyone has the right to recognition, everywhere, as a person before the law.
Article 6
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law against any discrimination in violation of this declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 7
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.
Article 8
In the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal.
Article 9
1. Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.
2. No one shall be held guilty of any offense on account of any act or omission which did not constitute an offense, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed.
Article 10
No one shall be subjected to unreasonable interference with his privacy, family, home correspondence or reputation.
Article 11
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own.
Article 12
1. Everyone has the right to seek and be granted, in other countries, asylum from persecution.
2. Prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations do not constitute persecution.
Article 13
No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality or denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 14
1. Men and women of full age have the right to marry and to found a family and are entitled to equal rights as to marriage.
2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the full consent of both intending spouses.
3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection.
Article 15
1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 16
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 17
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of assembly and association.
Article 19
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through his freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of access to public employment in his country.
3. Everyone has the right to a government which conforms to the will of the people.
Article 20
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security, and is entitled to the realization, through national effort and international cooperation, and in accordance with the organization and resources of each state, of the economic, social and cultural rights set out below.
Article 21
1. Everyone has the right to work, to just and favorable conditions of work and pay, and to protection against unemployment.
2. Everyone has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3. Everyone is free to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 22
1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living, including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and to social services, adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, and to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
2. Mother and child have the right to special care and assistance.
Article 23
1. Everyone has the right to education. Elementary and fundamental education shall be free and compulsory and there shall be equal access on the basis of merit to higher education.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality, to strengthening respect for human rights and fundamental freedom, and to combating the spirit of intolerance and hatred against other nations and against racial and religious groups everywhere.
Article 24
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure.
Article 25
Everyone has the right to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement.
Article 26
Everyone is entitled to a good social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set out in the declaration can be fully realized.
Article 27
1. Everyone has duties to the community which enables him freely to develop his personality.
2. In the exercise of his rights, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are necessary to secure due recognition and respect for the rights of others and the requirements of morality, public order and general welfare in a democratic society.
Article 28
Nothing in this declaration shall imply the recognition of the right of any state or person to engage in any activity aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms prescribed herein.

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Though Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama said his choice of words were not the best, when speaking about the bitterness of the people of Pennsylvania I agree with his first assessment. Not only am I bitter, but I am mad as hell! That does not mean I have no hope, as a matter of fact it makes me more determined to work with our new President to improve conditions in whatever way I can.

This Bush Administration has led us into a depressive recession which has left the American people in the worst financial state since the Great Depression. Horrendously, it seems that the presumptive Republican nominee for President, John McCain intends to carry out many of the same failed Bush policies.

Let me itemize why I am bitter and mad as hell. First, there is this illegally declared war based on false premises. In addition to the astronomical financial cost of this war, there is the great HUMAN toll, the loss of the lives of so many of our young service people. Many thousands suffering from both mental and physical deterioration. Some of them come home looking like robots with artificial limbs to replace the good limbs that God gave them. To compound the problem they have to fight for proper diagnoses and treatments of their diseases, especially if their maladies are caused by post-traumatic syndrome. How many countless innocent Iraqi women and children have either been killed or displaced? They are human beings, too. All life is valued and valuable.

The cost of the war, which McCain indicates should be extended, has caused this devastating economic debacle that we are faced with where thousands of homes are being foreclosed causing a devaluation of other area properties.

Despite the fact that we are pouring tons of money into Iraq, a lot of the money is being misspent, misappropriated, misused and unaccounted for. All the while we are neglecting the American taxpayer who is paying dearly for this war. Has Haliburton ever reimbursed our treasury for over billing the U. S. government? If so, why don’t the American people know about it. We need an accounting of that money because it belongs to us.

Next. there is the collapse of many financial institutions where mismanagement and greed have caused them to fail; and yet, the CEO’s who presided over this chaos leave with astounding severance pay. The employees of these companies and the investors are left holding the empty bag. Never have there been so many banks and financial institutions to fail since the Great Depression.

Unemployment is rampant; and, the few jobs there are, are in the fast food industry or the service industry where workers are paid minimum wages and usually with no benefits or chances for advancement. It is painful to see some of our best jobs being outsourced with no comparable jobs replacing them. I want to buy American, but almost everything in the stores, whether they are clothing or household goods, are made outside this country. It pains me when I see to many foreign cars while American automobile manufacturers are having to suspend operations in their plants across the country. The manufacturing industry was a route to the middle class for people without a lot of formal education. The trades provided them a good standard of living.

Now, let’s look at the failure of government oversight responsibilities to monitor industries. Their failure has caused us to import goods and services that are harmful to humans and their pets. What about the safety of our children who are exposed to excessive lead in these imported toys from China? What about the safety of our airline industry where passenger lives could be in jeopardy because of failure of oversight?

We are allowing our infrastructure to become obsolete and unsafe because we are spending billions of dollars attempting to restore and rebuild what we have destroyed in Iraq.

Many American schools are turning out test takers and not students who will be competent enough to compete in this global economy. Education is under-funded. Many schools are outdated, filled with asbestos and ill equipped, especially in the inner cities. Many students graduate unable to comprehend basic math, science, reading and writing skills. We are lagging behind the education systems of China, Japan, India and Germany. In many of these countries the children are at least bi-lingual and many are multi-lingual. Many American children are not even proficient in their own English language.

It is for these and many other reasons that I am bitter and mad as hell because I see the American people being short changed; and that is neither just or fair.

I must address the ridiculous statements of both presidential candidates calling Senator Obama elitist and out of touch with the people. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just that, unlike the other two, Senator Obama speaks the truth which is often hard to hear. There is no point in sugar coating the conditions in this country. That is why Senator Obama decided to run for office because he is committed to make the necessary changes to bring us back to our glory days when American people lived better than most people in the world, and where America was respected and even envied by many of the world’s people who tried to model our successes. It is because Senator Obama knows from personal experience what it means not to be privileged, he is bonding with, has established rapport with, and is determined to elevate the status of ordinary people by bringing an end to this war. He will bring our troops home so they can tend to their homes and families and provide for them. Regardless of how Hillary and McCain tried to spin things, thinking Americans knew exactly what Obama meant.

How ludicrous is it for a woman whose worth since leaving the White House is one hundred nine million dollars and a man who married a woman whose family made a fortune in beer distribution to call a man from an humble background an elitist.

Initially in response to the housing crisis, McCain said people who were losing their homes were irresponsible and the government should not bail them out. Yet all the while McCain supported bailing out financial institutions which were mismanaged.

Let’s all just get real and admit that we are not pleased with the way this Bush Administration has led us down the garden path. It is time for the CHANGE THAT WE CAN BELIEVE IN WITH SENATOR BARACK OBAMA. That is why the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee is Senator Barack Obama.

For Further Information: Contact: Helen L. Burleson, Doctor of Public Administration
(708)747-0919

After seventy-five years of a minimum wage real wages have declined at a time when unprecedented wealth has risen. Poor workers are a common refrain across the heartland of America. The real issue is not a minimum wage it is a standard of living. The quality of life for basic workers needs protecting. A child born in the world must be cared for in an appropriate way. Child labor laws and the right to decent education were also mandated more than seventy-five years ago. It is clear that a working mother who cannot afford childcare or a solid foundation for her family does not promote a standard of living, which is reasonable.

Instead of a minimum wage let us provide a package of quality of life for Americans. In this package would be standards of childcare and early natal care. There would be education that was guaranteed and a safe and adequate environment in which to live.

The same recommendations as the Koerner Commission Report in 1968 are a reasonable start:
No child in an unsafe place; Families that are able to play in safe and caring environment; No one left in a situation that threatens the safety and welfare of the child; Access to the best education and alternative approaches for the care and training for the children; opportunities for development and emotional, spiritual health throughout one's lifetime; a place that cradles and cares for young mothers and ushers them into the world with dignity; the same approach is necessary at the end of life; and finally, that well being of the community foster interdependence and respect for every member's contribution to the neighborhood. We are all citizens and we are all capable of making a change if we create public policy that embraces each person as a vital member of society.

The War of the Worlds: Those With Wealth and Those Without

This is a place between turfs. On one hand there is the changing topography of the condos and the people who have lived there in the hood for eons. Jesus Saves Mission has been on the south side of Park Avenue West for 115 years. On the northwest side of the street is the relatively newly built Samaritan House. Both establishments serve 1,000's of homeless people annually. Both have overflow emergency shelters for hundreds of men and families. The Rescue Mission serves meals three times every day. Countless numbers of people pour into these centers for indigent care for a plethora of services. Both institutions have long built their reputations on serving homeless people. Samaritan House is a Catholic Charities organization. The Rescue Mission has long been an advocate for basic human dignity and saving the spirits of lost people.

Curtis and Ball Park Community Neighborhoods want the homeless to receive care for their addictions and loss of self-esteem. Homeless people are a public nuisance in the community. Bernie O'Connell was assigned to work out of the St. Francis Center, at 2323 Curtis Street in this park as an outreach worker for more than two years. He is frustrated that solutions to the intensity of the problems people face is losing ground in a genuine effort to altar the conditions of homeless people. The community cannot afford the expense of the quality of life of the transient residents. Bernie knows that these issues are unresolved and exasperated by the tension between the groups.

The park is named for a homeless person who was a community leader. These days people who are homeless are camped outside both the St. Francis Center and at Maestras Park. The City and County of Denver are attempting to change the demographics of their community. Unfortunately there are more homeless people of every type possible camping, more than there have been at any time before. With the Democratic National Convention only a couple months off there can be no doubt that this is a great embarrassment for the city. The other part of the thoroughfare that traverses this community is that it crosses Broadway, the main street to Brighton Blvd and by Coors Field to I-25 and 38th Avenue.

The city's plan of action is for this eyesore to disappear. In listening to Leah Dougherty and Chantal, the Mayor's representative at the Tattered Cover Bookstore on the Democratic National Convention, the issue must be a serious matter to the people convening the convention. Denver promotes the work that they have done on homelessness as a model to the world. It is impressive what has been done up until this time. With the summer coming the economy and the hardships of raising money for the convention have derailed the efforts to genuinely change the plight of the most difficult citizens of the neighborhood.

We cannot provide services and places for these difficult individuals, or encouragement for social services, which are also strapped for funds, or the community to provide resources to do more than they are doing. All of us are losing in this battle to reduce homelessness in ten years or anytime. This conundrum has been intractable for 150 years. In the beginning the issues were even more entrenched. Anyone making a claim to end homelessness must be unaware that the virtual need for industry and the military is for a cavalry of poor. America is built on the bedrock of their broken backs and spirits.

Blaine Major Burleson of Mexia, Texas was the benchmark for what a father should be.
A man ahead of his times, a renaissance man, a motivator, an innovator, a family man who appreciated the finer things in life and provided those things for his three daughters.

Armed with only a 6th grade education, Blaine left home, with his parent’s permission, to head North to pursue his dreams of a better life. At nearly six feet, he looked like a grown man; and he knew his size was an impediment. Hoboing his way up North, whenever he got off the train in any town, the first thing he did was to go directly to the sheriff’s office to introduce himself. “I’m Blaine Burleson and I’m here looking for work.” Knowing the conditions of the southern part of the country at that time, he was discerning enough to know that had anything of a criminal nature happened in that town, the Klan and the posse’s would come looking for that unfamiliar Black man. He preempted them by establishing who he was and what his intentions were.

Born November 16, 1897, this was 1908 and he was 11 years old. Wise and ambitious beyond his years, he pursued whatever work he could find. Coming from a successful family of 10 who owned considerable land in oil rich Texas, he wanted a more sophisticated and more equitable life. Knowing that his parents’ homestead was stolen from them by their covetous Caucasian neighbor, he did not want to suffer a similar fate for he knew he was going to be successful and did not want his success illegally taken from him. His father was literate and encouraged his eight children to become land owners. His oldest brother, Ephraim Burleson, a World War I veteran managed to earn a Ph.D. and taught economics and philosophy at Paul Quinn College in Texas.

Uncle Eph never married, but took an interest in all of his nieces and nephews which turned out to be a bonus for my sisters and me.

Blaine worked his way up to Kansas City, Kansas, immediately got a job, made a friend on the job, who took Blaine home to meet his family. That was Blaine’s home for the 5 years that he lived and worked there. That was an era when Americans of African descent looked out for each other and befriended each other which was very much in the African tradition of the whole village raising a child.

In 1913, he became restless and wanted to come further North and he landed in Cleveland, Ohio. Here he worked with a young man named Spencer Payne and the same scenario repeated itself. Spencer took Blaine home to meet his family and that is where Blaine resided until 1922.

Because it was his dream to come to Chicago, in 1922 he set out again on his quest. He found employment at the International Harvester Company, now known as Navastar. He also found a room with a couple in the Rosenwald building on 47th and Michigan, purportedly one of the first garden apartment buildings in the nation. The development funded by the Rosenwald foundation was supposed to be low-income housing, but when the project was finished, middle class Blacks moved in. Residing there were some of the movers and shakers in Chicago’s early history, Joe Louis, Anita Cockrell, who founded one of the first nursery schools for Blacks in Chicago, Robert Taylor, for whom a Chicago housing project was named (which I call vertical prisons to contain poor Blacks) and his daughter Frances Taylor, who later joined the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe and was at one time married to Miles Davis, prior to Cicely Tyson, Thomas A. Dorsey, who composed, “Precious Lord,” and two of my relatives, my uncle, Samuel Wilson Hurley, Sr. from Tchula, Mississippi and my great aunt, Victoria Louise Wilson-Thompson also from Tchula, Mississippi.

Coincidentally and ironically, it was my great aunt Vick that Daddy found a room with.

Fate was on his side because in 1923 my mother was sent to Chicago to live with her aunt Vick in order to finish high school. Mother, Beatrice Lillian Hurley-Burleson was very familiar with Chicago because each summer she came to Chicago to shop at Marshall Fields to purchase her middy blouses and pleated, blue wool skirts and black shoes, the uniform she wore at the Catholic School she attended. Always a gentleman, upon realizing that he was smitten with the young beauty, he moved away and then called her aunt and uncle to request permission to court her.

On January 1, 1924 Blaine and Beatrice were married. They were blessed March 31, 1925 with their first daughter, Juanita Elaine (later Eberhardt) born in Cook County Hospital, followed by Ruth Pinkie (later Lowe), a home delivery on August 1, 1927 and then the caboose came on December 8, 1929 and she was named Helen Louise (later Fredrick) after the Lying-In nurse who helped deliver her at 5201 South Calumet in Chicago, IL.

Both my parents extended their education at International Harvester because the company conducted classes for their employees. Mother was a “Rosie the Riveter” who joined the work force in 1941 when the U.S. became involved in WWII. Daddy was a welder and Mother was a blueprint reader and a calibrator. Mother went straight to the U.S. Post Office to deposit her checks every payday. This enabled us to acquire our first piece of property.

Now to get back to the influence of Uncle Eph, he kept us supplied with what few Black history books there were available at that time. Dad was an avid reader and had a set of law books which he read daily. We were taken to the library to get cards as soon as we were age eligible. Daily we were required to read at least three newspaper articles to discuss at the dinner table. Dad said that one had to be of international importance because we had to know what was going on in the world, one of national importance for we had to know what was going on in our country and the other of local importance for we had to know what was going on around us.

Dad did not believe in a lot of toys so for Christmas we each got one or two toys, Dad went to a lumber yard and got scraps to make blocks for us. Each year we got a significant gift to further our education, a piano, a typewriter, a set of World Book Encyclopedias, and a combination radio, record player and record maker. We would record our piano recital pieces and play them for perfecting our techniques. Each summer when we graduated from elementary school, we were enrolled in Cortez W. Peters Business College and attended every summer thereafter until we went away to college. Further, until the war when gasoline and rubber were rationed, Dad gave us a month’s vacation yearly because he said traveling was broadening and an extension of our education.

Because Dad was such a good provider and Mother was such a good manager, before we finished college, at one time all three of us were in college at the same time. Can you imagine tuition, room and board, books, transportation to and from Wilberforce University and later Central State University at Wilberforce, Ohio. This was the school of our choice because of the influence of our African Methodist Episcopalian Church upbringing.

When I went to graduate school at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, I refused to allow my parents to pay my tuition because I felt if I were worth my salt, I should be able to do this by myself.

After 30 years of marriage, I became a divorcee, and I have resumed using my maiden name as a tribute and honor to my Dad, Blaine Burleson.

I sorely miss my dad especially now that Fathers’ Day is here. Dad attended every school program, every piano recital, drove us to dances and picked us up afterward and our wish was his every command. What a Dad! He was also a great grandfather; and I regret that though he lived for 87 years, he was not alive to see how all his grandsons have followed his lead and are outstanding fathers in their own right. My son, Earl Fredrick, III, earned his M.D. degree from Howard University and his M.B.A. from Amherst, Earl’s daughter, Montana Marie Fredrick, who is fluent in French and Chinese graduated from 8th grade with high honors this year, June 2008, her father encourages her to learn a new word a day, my daughter, Erica Elyce Fredrick earned her B.A. with high honors from Governors’ State University and now is enrolled in graduate school; my oldest sister’s son, Robert, Jr. earned a Masters Degree in Multicultural Education from DePaul University of Chicago and his son, George Eberhardt, III, graduated from Yale U in 2005 and will be graduating from University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 2009, his sister, Ashley Victoria Ebehardt just graduated June 3, 2008 from Princeton University; my middle sister’s son attended DePaul University in Chicago and his son, Warren Blaine Lowe, Jr. attended Purdue University in Indiana, and his sister, Amanda Juanita Lowe will graduate from Thornwood High School in South Holland, IL as the Valedictorian and number 1 in her class in 2009.

Dad did attend my graduation when I earned my Doctorate in Public Administration and he also lived to attend my son’s graduation from medical school.

We owe it all to you Dad, and to Mother, too! Happiest of Father’s Days as you continue to inspire and motivate your family from Heaven. We salute you, the Patriarch of the Blaine Burleson Family!

Suicide: Spiritual Nihilism, Part III. What Is Going On in America?

Please, send the personal accounts of your experiences and let us raise awareness of people in denial that we are losing those gifts that are most dear to our community.

These are responses to the simple request to take time and relate to one another authentically, with care and with dignity:

“Thank you for taking time to send this out. Having known several people who committed suicide, you are right it is a connection and spiritualism that is missing. My faith in God saved me from a similar fate and I don't think I need to tell you how strong a force that is. As our economic and sociological situation becomes more difficult, staying connected, especially in a belief system is critical. Thanks for passing this on to others who may not understand the force you are speaking of.”

“This is all correct. Thank you for your thoughts.”

“Well said my friend. You have a gifted voice and are an important part of my and our collective community. Happy Father's Day!”

“This is great advice.”

I can’t tell you how much I agree with you. We are going at such a fast pace and people have lost sight of what is really important. I could go on but it would only be negative.”

“The third member of my family committed suicide in March. Yet, if you were to ask no one in my family would admit problems with depression or alcohol. So far my grandfather, uncle, and great-grandfather all proved to be handy with firearms.”

“In April and May of 1990, my next-door neighbor, a prominent dentist and father of four, committed suicide after wondering why God had not made him a disciple despite his dedicated Christian life. Two weeks later my grandfather shot himself (and succeeded this time as he blew an eye out some ten years earlier and lived) and the lady one house over hung herself, but was cut down. I think she survived. Two friends from high school succeeded in the late 90’s. Another friend in 1994 had a heart attack in the process and ended up in CCU before the psych ward. One of my parents’ friends shot himself in the parking lot of our neighborhood tennis club.”

More than thirty of you have expressed opinions or sent notices of thanks to this series of articles. I wonder how far we have come in our awareness and openness to the plight of our children and the suffering of our neighbors, when these narratives pour in like torn and shredded eulogies?

There is a wave of concern in American society relative to violence and self-pity. We are obsessed with our shadows. Early in our experience of life we are taught that we are the center of the universe. In many other industrialized nations we have exported the same narcissistic preoccupation with our image. The grand dame of personal freedom may not be the best model of inter-connective responsibility and purpose. It is true that the pressures of American society make the all too common attempt on one’s life a real alternative to accepting one’s limitations and plodding through the harsh times.

In one Internet site there is information shared by young people on how to kill oneself. Across the globe people are emulating the best and worst of America. It is time to reevaluate shipping abroad the ideas of this nation as gems for the undeveloped countries.

Recently, a woman coming to an infectious disease international conference was shocked to know that in the richest and most developed nation in the world that there were many people without hope and living meager lives of desperation. A military leader in the seat in back of us responded to the numbers promoted about veterans, “that these circumstances and statistics are exaggerated.” People are denying the blatant reality that we are making life worse for everything with our mass use of the resources and responses to aggression with retaliation and destruction of other cultures in the name of freedom.

If we want to be free and live in relation to others we have to get beyond the image of us as right, privileged and of greater importance than a person who lives differently and more simply. Our model of success has driven many people in these days to seek refuge in the life of poverty and misery outside. It has caused many people to give up trying to be a member of society and created a schism between people who are ordinary citizens. Recalling the challenge of the end of the second part of this article, “it is astute to live with gratitude toward everyone and malice toward no one." Make an effort to reach out to a person who has been a foe and thank him or her for their role in your life. Be kind and as one friend suggested, “speak to him or her gently, patiently, conciliatorily, and without contempt.” The person sitting across from you is you. We are all alike, afraid, insecure, deserving of authentic praise for our gifts.

Tell the person who has made a difference in your life how much they have changed you and ask them to express these feelings to another person. Also, express a desire for the person to tell someone with whom you have dread and personal distaste or enmity, that the other is no different than you and also is significant. With the idea in mind we will achieve peace in the world, as well as in each other. Finally, we will prevent the destruction of the people who share our lives.

The reason that it is fundamental to consider the history of this topic of suicide is that we live in a world, which for most people is fragmented, and shifting away from secure and complacent lives, if we ever had them. Economic predictions and social upheaval are causing unrest and as a result people are taking their lives from the age of pre-teens and young adults to ages of much older people. Many armed services related suicides are destroying family life in the country. Young people are losing hope because of pressures to perform and fulfill ambitions. The impact of these events on the lives of family members and those left wondering what went wrong are escalating. One in six people will have a family member who has either contemplated suicide or ended his or her life. The impact for the entire nation is made even more poignant by the measure of the number of people who feel that this is acceptable to end the pain and burden of their suffering.

We must talk about the matter and we must correct the underlying reasons that so many of us are left without hope. The root cause of suicidal obsession is an absence of spiritual interconnection. It is much harder to kill yourself when you see your presence in a community as a vital element. It is unnecessary to seek a solution that is extreme when you see that people near to you regard you with integrity and authentic value.

The problem that we see before us is that many people have given up relating to anyone and view their lives as though no one else feels this way. How can anyone cut through the veil that shrouds one's spirit? It is irrevocable as long as we do not take the time to sit down and relax; to care earnestly about the other person and remember what we are doing is connected. A father came home to give his son a compliment that he was proud of him and that he was a valued person in his life. His son broke down in tears and took his father to his room where he had written a suicide note and said that he did not realize how much he meant to his father because his father was occupied with his work and seldom had time to be with him, and show him that he cared about his pursuits.

It is a practice that I have added to presentations, which I now ask you reading this: take time to go to someone who has made a vital impact in your life and acknowledge the gift. When you share the reasons and explain how much the person means ask the person to tell someone that is vital to them what importance the person has had in their life.

Given that it is a critical moment in our lives we never realize the profound difference that this will make everywhere. No social ill can be overcome without each other; no one can be sustained without spiritual sustenance. It is a time of change and we must seize this opportunity to make one small difference with each person we touch.

Hospitals are dropping people off all over the country to shelters who have life-threatening and debilitating illnesses.

What we are doing here in the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference is listening to harrowing stories, that have been recorded of the lives of people who are vulnerable. When life is short and cheap a person is discharged from a hosptial to the street. Results are clear an the unending terror of vulernable populations.

Health care costs are high. and managed care threadbare, thus a man was taken to a street shelter from a hospital in a semi-state of consciousness and left there on a trash can, which collapsed under him. He was not stable but the hospital sent him by taxi anyway.

The man was sent back to the hospital after three days because he nearly died without more than a hospital dressing gown and blue slippers for protection from the elements. The morbidity rate for people left to their own devices, without adequate health care triples that of the normal death rate.

What we have to do is reform the system and developing a process where we have standardized reimbursement rates and guarenteed access to care. We are living in the stone age in medical intervention for all vulnerable populations.

It is time to let go of our prejudices that people can fend for themselves. It is outrageous to think that one's loved ones will not even be able to die with dignity nor our children have access to prenatal care when they are carrying a baby into the world.

It is time that America wakes up to the fact that all of the vulnerable citizens are at risk for a reason. We turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the loss of dignity and self-respect of the marginalized members of this community. It is a crime to allow a person to languish in front of a clinic and wait for it to open, to lose his faculties because of neglect and to suffer when these practices are driven solely by prices and escalating profits.