Posted on 10/27/2012 5:22:18 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
It was just before sunrise when Bernie Kern wheeled himself to an outdoor plaza at Laguna Honda Hospital for his usual morning cigarette. He'd been living in the hospital for five years, but four decades of homelessness before that had left him with an enduring affection for the early morning chill and quiet.
The cigarette was done in a few minutes. It was his last.
Kern was found peacefully slumped in his wheelchair just outside the elevator, his heart given out from the long years on the streets.
That was Oct. 9. He was 90.
Having long outlived every relative he knew, there was no family to claim him. The normal city policy in such cases is to cremate him along with other unclaimed indigents, then scatter his ashes into the ocean with all the others on a routine run by a city-hired boat.
.... He was born in New York City, and when he was 8 his father abandoned his mother - who put Kern, his two brothers and one sister into an orphanage. The family reunited when the mother remarried, but the drunken stepfather beat the children.
As a young man Kern worked at Horn and Hardart, the first food service automat in New York and the place where he said he met Fitzgerald. Then came World War II, when he was injured as an Army private in Europe.
...."I'm sure he had PTSD from his time in World War II," said Kelly. "His isolation, not trusting people, inability to cope back in society, refusal of treatment - it all fit."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Well, what have you done with the blessings God gave you to protect the innocent and keep the evil from prospering?
“Heavenly Father why? Why would a veteran have to live lonely and poverty stricken for all these years? What about providing for him out of your riches?”
The Almighty’s purposes are not always for us to know, although my opinion is that He puts people here in bad circumstances to remind us believers that He has purposes for us, that are not our own. That, and as His kingdom is not of this earth, neither are His rewards, and I would think this man will be received kindly by the Lord for whatever service was rendered.
-——Why would a veteran have to live lonely and poverty stricken for all these years? -——
The fact he was a veteran does not preclude the fact (not possibility) that he was just lazy.
God really had nothing to do with it and certainly should not be blamed
Uh... sounds to me like his heart gave out because he was 90.
Grow up.
Then when bad things happen, you are told either that this is what God wants, or that He doesn't choose to interfere at this time because withholding action will supposedly lead to a better outcome eventually (when people finally learn to please Him.)
That the innocent are ground up in the process of people learning to please God then suggests to you that God's top priority must be teaching people to please Him, and therefore that is the only thing that is good.
Finally it occurs to you that your view of good--that which benefits humanity--is not compatible with the religious view of good--that which pleases God. At this point you either abandon your own views and masochistically submit to the idea that we are nothing but toys for the pleasure of an infantile, selfish God, or more likely... such a God could only be the creation of infantile, selfish minds who created Him in their own image.
That's when you realize the whole story is made up, like Santa Claus, there is no one up there, and the whole story came out of the Middle East anyway (there's your first clue).
Now there'll be about 30 attacks on me and people pinging the moderator to get me banned. ;^)
I would have put it the other way around - "Compassion in life and dignity in death" but I agree with your point.
I've been around too many elderly people who, either have no family or more likely, have a family that just doesn't care. I'm talking about older folks in nursing homes. I did some volunteer work in one when I was in college. Many there are starved for attention, just wanting someone to talk to, a hand to hold etc.
“Ye have not because ye ask not.”
And being livid at God will solve sooooo many problems, right? He made you to protect the innocent and fight evil. Go to a homeless shelter and help a veteran. See Jesus in his face. It’s a lot more effective than whining on the internet.
Lazy? Why, because he chose not to amass wealth and riches like you?
I dare say that the hardships he endured in his life probably made him a better man than you........
Lazy? Why, because he chose not to amass wealth and riches like you?
I dare say that the hardships he endured in his life probably made him a better man than you......and the positive effect he had on these total strangers in his end years proves that out.
Nah..... He just chose to opt out of the world rather than be a participant. He chose to essentially do nothing.
That is his choice but the root of the decision is basic laziness.
Laziness is the root of liberalism
In the small town I grew up in in northern Michigan we had a a guy like that. People only knew him as "termite".
In talking about him recently with a couple friends, nobody knew anything about him other than the fact that he drove around in an old vintage Rolls Royce and parked it next to his old house that was sided with tar paper. One day the house burned down along with the Rolls and termite moved into a city owned house along with several other unknown homeless men.
In my home town, his name was Buster. Dad always made a point to talk with him. Buster had a very similar life, but was a very joyful man. Dad said Buster accepted his life, and woke up thankful each day. When he died, there was a display with his bike and stuff at the local museum.
It is a great story... however the cynic in me wonders if they’re just warming up the inevitable “homeless stories” for the next administration. Publishing this lets them off the hook so to speak...” We sure did do homeless stories during the Obama admin.”
yeah I know it won’t solve anything, but I can’t help it. I am upset with God.
Now as for helping, I am. And if I weren’t I wouldn’t see so many things that madden me.
So, if you are feeling awful, hopefully no one like you will come along and give you some “get out there and help” high and mighty pontification. Hopefully someone somewhere will give you exactly what you need, which I doubt would be a slap in the face.
yeah shame on you too for being mean
yeah well many times the bad stuff is happening because people refuse to follow His Word and follow their false leaders, but many times there are innocents who are following His Word that are suffering too. Like that little girl that got murdered for her bike, that other little girl in CO............etc
I am fighting the battle for truth every single minute of every day and doing spiritual warfare as well, in case you really want to know.
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