In response to the e-mail I sent out yesterday highlighting our efforts to collect food and clothing for homeless teens in Oceanside, Ca, I received this response from a (now former) member:

"they can get jobs like most normal people !! dont send me your bull**** !!!"

Of course, I replaced the last four letters with stars : )

But I'm wondering, why all the anger? I don't think this person is really upset about receiving an e-mail from Twoshirts, but more about something regarding the poor and homeless.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, violence against homeless people are on the rise nationally, and this story in the Detroit News covers the murder of a homeless man by two young teenage boys who were allegedly involved. The motive remains a mystery, and in all fairness, we presume their innocence until they're proven otherwise.

Still, there were a couple of quotes in the article that struck me. One of the boys mothers believes her son is innocent, partly because, in her words, "We were homeless once," Hazard said. "We don't have much, but I raised him and my other children to respect others. I was a working mother and taught them morals and to be honest."

I'm sure she did, but perhaps her son saw a bit of himself in the homeless man; something he was ashamed of. Often our anger towards others is rooted in self-rejection. When people represent the worst of us, or by their very presence seem to confirm our greatest fears, we can lash out in anger.

However, I think there's possibly an even more sinister explanation. "We think crimes against the homeless should be classified as a hate crime," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless. "...People feel it is safe to hate and attack the homeless."

Michael Stoops touches on a deep-seated human reality: we often repress the evil inside of us until we have a safe, anonymous target. Wherever the anger and hate comes from, the poor and homeless are practically relegated to the category of non-human in cultures of affluence, and are vulnerable to all manner of attacks, abuses, and crimes.

In my view, regardless of their reasons for being poor, this is exactly why we have a moral obligation to stand with them.