I'm not sure I believe in Angels, but I do believe in Humanity.

I have been really slow in getting this post up, but please forgive me. I've been recently floored by one contributor who stepped up unasked and agreed to pay the full amount for the dentist bill that one of our Occupiers recently had. Thaddeus was homeless when Occupy Elkhart set up in the plaza where he would frequently go. He listened to what people were saying, and decided to join our group. Now he's out here at Mishawaka Road.

Ok, so some people have questioned whether or not this is money well spent. Some have suggested that we can't both change the world and take care of the world's least fortunate. That maybe we have to make some hard choices about where we put our resources.

But I'm sorry, we are the world, every last one of us. But I will let our "Angel" contributor speak now (with permission). This is what humanity looks like:
______________________

Alright, I made the offer to pay the dentist bill and ever since then my inbox has been a flutter with messages, both thanking me and trying to explain the whole situation too me. I feel like I need to explain myself.

First let me say, the only person that I know in this group is Ed Jensen. Ed and I have been amigos close to 20 yrs. Nobody, including Ed said anything to me about paying the bill. It was my own decision.

Secondly, let me explain my involvement in the occupy movement. I got involved in the middle of September as an organizer for the Occupation of Indianapolis. On October 8th when the occupation began I was on security detail, which was really unnecessary, there were no security issues. It was beautiful. Just like we knew it would be. Great speeches, unity, humor, marching. It was fucking fabulous.

I had this feeling that I couldn't explain. this feeling like I was about to realize something that I had always known but had never expressed.

So I'm at the Occupation doing "security" on the first day. I had been just talking to strangers, really talking to them, ya know. Listening, ya know, really listening. And this TV Reporter came up to me and asked me why I was there. Without even thinking about it I said that I was there because I believed in the dignity of humanity. And that I was tired of living in a world where greed was put above humanity and dignity wasn't even a consideration anymore.

That's why I'm a part of the occupy movement. That's why I offered to pay the bill. The situation or reasons behind how the dental bill happened really dont matter. They really don't. Whether or not the work needed to be done or if it was elective is completely unimportant too me.

I don't know the man who had the dental work done. I've never met him I know nothing of him personally. What I do know is that he's a human being......

He is someone son, someones grandson. He may be someones father, someones brother. Just like we all are.

He has a history, a story to tell. He may have huge problems to over come. He may have already over come everything that he's gonna in this lifetime. Just like the rest of us.

There but for the grace of God go I

Go all of us

I offered to pay the bill because people took this unknown, to me, man to the dentist to help him out. To restore some dignity to humanity......

Paying the bill was the least I could do. I believe that when we reach back and help those less fortunate than us we create a better world for all of us.

That what I thought all this occupy stuff was about.

It makes no sense to me to take to the streets in civil disobedience in protest over greed and then argue about money.....

The issues of the homeless are many. They're complicated, complex difficult things to understand, make sense of, let alone find a reasonable working solution too.

But, be that as it may, for me, I'm gonna side on the side of humanity, every fucking time I have a chance too.

There's an awful lot of occu-drama out there if I want to buy into it.

There's a lot of stuff that happens in the occupation that I don't necessarly agree with. When something happens or is happening that I don't see eye to eye with, I share my experience, my concerns and thoughts, let the process happen, and if it goes forward, I cut it the fuck loose.

Because in the end I need to support the movement as a whole. Because I do support the movement.

Were never gonna agree on everything. We all have our own truth that we're working towards. Our own world views and understanding. But we must not allow those differences to destroy our unity of purpose.

We must fight to keep the ties the bind us together stronger than those that would tear us apart.

In Solidarity

Scott Michael
__________

We are "we the people"; we will heal this nation
I might have lost my job, but I found an occupation


If you enjoy this blog, please consider donating to our continued occupation here in Elkhart
https://www.wepay.com/donations/the_new_elkhart_project

Dear Occupy Diary

NOTE: This is a part of a different online diary/blog that I started on November 17th, 2011. I will copy those relevant posts here, then continue with new posts here where things are more open to the public. Thanks for reading.

Ok, it occurred to me that I am missing a great opportunity to journal my experiences with a local Occupy and to get some feedback (maybe) in the process, so I'm setting up this thread to record, and if anyone else has experiences to share on the same subject, please chime in.

For the record, I'm working with the Occupy Elkhart group in Elkhart, IN, USA. Elkhart is a pretty small city, population of 51,000 in 2010. Heretofore, its claim to fame was as the "RV capital of the world" (no joke). That pretty much changed with the meltdown which resulted in many RV manufacturing plants locally closing, and the city and county with an unemployment rate that, at one point, was nearing 17%.

Ahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elkhart,_IndianaI

Around Jan 1, 2009, MSNBC announced that they would follow the city of Elkhart for a year to see how it weathered through the financial crisis. You can read about MSNBC's "Elkhart Project" here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31369315/ns/us_news-the_elkhart_project/

Ok, I won't go into right now how I got involved in the local Occupy Elkhart, or try to catch up to explain all of the personalities involved. I hope this will come out in the course of the journal. I will say that, when Occupy Elkhart started here, I tweeted MSNBC and told them that "Elkhart has a new project" and asked if they were interested. We haven't heard from MSNBC directly, but Rachael Maddow did mention (just barely, but still) Occupy Elkhart on one of her broadcasts. So yea, I guess we're famous :-)

I'm going to try and be disciplined and write a bit every day, but no promises. I'm pretty busy. Or, if enough people say "shut up," I likely will.

Tomorrow I will put down more, but for now, I'm dead tired. I spent 3 hours earlier tonight dancing with a sign at the plaza. And had the time of my life.