Regarding the letter, “Readers respond: Sweeps are not the solution:” (Nov. 15): “We know their names” and sometimes their story; but their courage, resilience, resourcefulness, sense of community, humor and vulnerability are always evident. So evident in fact that they seem more human and more real than those of us who are serving lunch. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to de-humanize? How is it that those living outside in tents are treated so inhumanely by other so-called human beings? Aren’t we all part of the human family?
When human beings are struggling so hard simply to survive, the last thing they need is to have their community and homes destroyed, swept away. The city has plans to turn an area at Laurelhurst Park into pickleball courts. Human beings vs pickleball. Isn’t there some old adage about not kicking someone who is already down? Surely we can do a better job of taking care of each other. They are not the enemy; we are for failing to be a more compassionate and humane city/world.
Melissa Nickerson, Portland
