Larry Bierl

He wasn’t  professional athlete, or a movie star. He wasn’t a famous politician or even a local hero.

Larry Bierl was a 69-year-old homeless man...

...who was found dead in a bus stop shelter.

They’re awaiting the autopsy results, but the frigid weather may have been a problem for the man without a home.

Bierl was kinda’ famous, I suppose because he worked his way up and down Main Street every day.

At the bus stop someone left a message:

R.I.P. Larry

It was carved into the ice on the wall of the shelter where the NFTA police found his body.

That’s a horrific story, and one that brings me horrible dread because Larry Bierl isn’t a anamoly. There are homeless men and women all over the streets of every city in this country.

We shame ourselves to watch people like Larry live...

...and we just push it away.

Hide it from ourselves.

There’s a lot of talk out there about billionaires and socialism and wealth inequality.

A homeless guy like Larry is just a drop in the bucket...

...easily ignored...

...more quickly forgotten.

I hate this about all of us.

The shelters are busting at the seams.

The men and women on the streets, sleeping under overpasses, fishing food out of the restaurant dumpsters...

...they’re human beings!!!

We’ve turned our backs on them.

Yet the thing that bothers me most is that there isn’t really a push to change things.

There are people who are dead set against helping...

“Tough crap! Get a job!”

That’s the rallying cry of people in the middle who listen to the rich telling them that the poor are the problem.

Larry Bierl didn’t have an income. He didn’t pay taxes.

Jared Kushner made about $350 million last year. He didn’t pay taxes either.

Larry most likely froze to death in a bus stop shelter.

We gave the billionaires tax relief in the hopes that they’d trickle down on the heads of guys like Larry.

They didn’t.

They don’t.

They won’t.

R.I.P. Larry.

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