Kindly allow me to express my outrage and indignation at the recently passed bye-law prohibiting the feeding of the hungry in San Fernando. A question to Mayor Hosein: under what authority do you give yourself the right to manage the humanity and charity of citizens and threaten to impose a penalty on those following the dictates of conscience?
How does the cleanliness of a street take precedence over the right of the individual to practise what he considers a social or spiritual duty?
This wicked bye-law has been approved in several States in the USA. Why become infected with their madness? What's next? A bye-law to criminalise assistance to accident victims who were not wearing seat-belts? Do you not realise how flawed that type of thinking is? The cure is worse than the disease.
In your zeal to solve a practical problem, you have failed to take many important considerations into account: the fact that not all the hungry are homeless; the fact that the bye-law imposes new difficulties in terms of time, transportation and expense; the incapacity of the single existing Home to cater to all those in need of a meal; the fact that many of the hungry are intimidated by the idea of dealing with officialdom.
The poor have been with us for thousands of years. They are a spur to individual and collective conscience and a reminder of the insecurity of life and our need to remain humble. You would remove all of that for the sake of a clean street.
Can I feed them and then dispose of the food container? Will you fine me for giving them money? I see nothing but an interest in the cosmetic on the part of a handful of bureaucrats, even if that entails banishing our brothers to suffering, out of sight of the public eye. Place bins!
This is an outrage and will only serve to desensitise and dehumanise us. I hope every citizen of conscience voices his disapproval publicly. The audacity of those who confuse temporal power with the authority to challenge the eternal laws of life. I hope citizens see this bye-law for what it is: a dangerous infringement on our basic decency, our humanity. What arrogance! A society's greatest protection is not to be found in its laws but in the hearts and minds of its citizens.
Life has no guarantees, sir, be humble.
Lynne LLD