Compassion Fatigue
Sociopaths aside, most of us self-identify as compassionate. Compassion, in its most uncomplicated form, was an element, for example, in our recent sessions regarding wildlife preservation ( MM 8/15/22 Amazing Grace and MM 2/27/23 The Changing Face Of Conservation). Animals stir people in a profound way (“It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a dog or cat than to any human being”) as they are usually perfectly themselves, not the elaborately perverse psychological mysteries that people seem to become.
Our discussion shall concern itself with these psychological mysteries -- more specifically the hundreds (700 last count) of those currently unhoused in Boulder. One town, facing seven hundred individual stories, does not lend itself to facile answers. A recent development, however, has now put the matter front and center.
That is, the recently-published Downtown Boulder Vision Plan, a truly inspired imagination of what’s possible for our town over five years has one glaring omission, self-identified on page five, that begs the compassion question: “The recent uptick in homelessness, poverty, addiction, and mental health crisis has been a major concern . . . . (such that) these issues and related struggles are extremely complex . . . . (and thus are) not provided in the breadth of this Vision Plan.” The document thereby invites us to a “continued conversation.”
That “us” would be us. Let it first be said that there can hardly be an informed discussion about some overall Vision Plan without first having had a real plan to address homelessness, or at the very least to have such a plan incorporated therein. View the Vision Plan, then, as an accelerant of a conversation that’s been long overdue.
That conversation will invite us, as concerned citizens, to explore our compassion “boundaries.” Few would deny assistance to the truly needy having suddenly fallen on hard times. The calculus quickly becomes complicated with the addition of some or all of mental illness, drug use/addiction, aggressive and/or criminal behavior. What part, then, does personal responsibility play?
The challenge is, indeed, daunting and well described in the “Troubled Waters” article in the recent Boulder Weekly (BW/Troubled Waters). Many have weighed in on what’s euphemistically referred to as the “High Utilizer” population i.e. those whose excessive and growing demands on the court system, police, mental health, and other service sectors are draining the lifeblood of the city. Add to that the paradox of enhanced services attracting additional “clients.” Compassion fatigue sets in when the term itself becomes squishy within the context of so many different constituencies, dueling priorities, limited resources, and sometimes hidden agendas.
Highland has had a front row seat to one such affinity group, called SAFE (Safe Access for Everyone), originally formed as an extension of Boulder's local Democratic Socialists of America branch to further homeless rights "through direct action." The group once marked its territory by attempting to silence a Highland Institute-hosted event that featured a talk by a public official -- some irony in that the subject was homelessness -- followed by trespass on and destruction of Highland property. SAFE's core values by then had been broadened into an overall anti-capitalist agenda to embrace "safety" from police, from the elements, from food scarcity, etc. (An Interview With SAFE ). You may be aware of their literal anarchical signature – a red encircled “A” – as the group subsequently left their tell-tale droppings upon the destruction and/or defacing of other public and private property in and around Boulder.
While the entirety of the homeless population can certainly not be tagged by the harassment of citizens, tents on public property, and an open meth lab acting with impunity, such examples do provide a glimpse of the skull under the skin of a minimally acceptable society. Compassion fatigue quickly sets in with the lack of political will.
That is why the Vision Plan needs to be seen within the wider context of homelessness, lest the vision itself be held hostage: “Nice Five-Year plan you got shame if anything happened to it.”