THE PRIME DIRECTIVE

Streetpuppy is a Trekkie.

And remembers well the number one and most prominent guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets which dictates that no Starfleet officer can interfere with the internal development of alien civilizations, especially if they have not devoped WARP technology which means they are incapable of interstellar flight, which in turn means they are unaware of other civilizations and planets...including planet Homeless.

Basically, in a nutshell or  -space capsule - that would mean that even in the event that the captain of the Enterprise had detected  an asteroid heading for a planet he is approaching,  he would need to assume that the people - or plants or sea life or vegetable life or whatever is down there - and most likely it would not be humanoid, let's get real - hasn't learned to hurtle a space ship through the heavens at many times the speed of light, thus would have no idea what an asteroid is and so will be burned to a crispy critter on impact and life would have to start all over again on that planet.

Here, on Planet Homeless,  many Streetpuppy inhabitants face a similar and vexing situation.

They can't see the asteroid coming, and yes, it's aimed right at them, but the people who are in charge of  taking care of them cannot tell  the Streetpuppy Planet Homeless inhabitants about it, because, they must assume that the Planet Homeless inhabitants  are not advanced enough to understand  -besides the technical implications of an asteroid  bearing down on them -  that nothing is inherently good or bad and can only be judged from inside, and that if  the Streetpuppies  don't get it, that the asteroid is coming, the people  in charge must only infer that most Streetpuppies are intellectually and morally lazy, and most likely incapable of mastering a skateboard let alone a WARP driven interstellar starship.

And many of the people in charge have a point.

The asteroids are all around Planet Homeless.  Bobbing and weaving and dancing through the fetid air, and every once in a while one of them breaks loose and SPLAT!

There goes another Streetpuppy, down for the count before he or she could master the theory of flight and get the hell out of Dodge...or off Planet Homeless.

Be the asteroid alcohol, crack, meth, heroin, spice, bath salts or Oxycodone or a real bad choice  lifestyle or companions

The Streetpuppy has fallen victim to one of those asteroids  and then through the cracks - or worse, into a wooden box - and won't make it off Homeless Planet.

Let's get back to that 'people in charge' thing.

So many of them, be they police,  counselors, addiction 'experts' or all of those coalitions, associations and groups who band together to raise money to support their office furniture and long lunch and company car  habits have just plain given up, and understand  that other part of the Prime Directive which says that indeed nothing is inherently good or bad and can only be chainged i.e. 'fixed' from the inside. 

Kind of a Zen thing.

Like, 'it is what it is.'

Or, if it's broke, don't fix it.'

Or as Captains Kirk, or Picard would say as they turn the Enterprise homeward  Earth from Planet Homeless "First star to the right and straight on 'til morning, Ensign."

"Engage!"

OMERTA

We don't want to get too dramatic here, but the fact is that in Homeless Nation, the best way to go along to get along is to adhere to the tradition of omerta in all you see and do and hear.

It's like any other cultural and social and ethnic group -and yes, street puppies qualify as a separate group from say, firefighters - while you are where you are, be quiet, make no waves, and forget that you saw who took the shoes from the old street puppy who can barely walk to his panhandling spot.

Or that you know who stole the phone from the guy who so desperately needs to stay in contact with his day labor office for his only source of income and will probably be out of a job.

Or that you know who the woman was who savagely beat another woman for nothing more than admonishing the assailant that she shouldn't be defecating in a public park if for no other reason than if she were seen doing it her action would result in the neighbors believing that all street puppies did the same.

Or that you know the 'nice' couple who got a woman drunk on the day she cashed her disability check and then while she was sleeping it off went into her purse and took all of the money and retreated to a motel for a week long drinking and pill binge.

Or that you know who stole so and so's this and that, or that you are aware of the woman who regularly pimps out her daughter to make money for crack.

Or that you know the person who steals every day from the local convenience store...the one where the guy who owns the place won't allow homeless into the store anymore  without an abusive remark because of the high rate of theft in his store.

Or that you know who regularly sells the crack and pills to the guys over on the corner who can barely stand up all day, and really don't have a shot at life anymore.

Or that you know who the guy is at the very helpful and famous social agency who regularly demands and gets sexual favors from women he is supposed to be helping in return for the services they so desperately need.

Or that you know who murdered your good friend.

So many secrets, so little time.

But actually no time to do the right thing because to do so would put you at great risk from the people in Homeless Nation who regularly prey upon their own, and who would think nothing of  reaching out to hurt you, and if anybody saw it or knew of it, they would be silent.

Omerta.

But make a list, remember the faces and names of the people whom you know should be stopped -maybe not punished because you are not a judge or a jury - but stopped from hurting people who can barely make it in the world.

And when you leave Homeless Nation make sure that people  who can do something about all that you have seen which needs to be addressed.  Not avenged.  Adressed by people who can actually fix it.

And maybe it will help to soothe your guilty conscience for keeping silent about so many things for the sake of going along to get along for so long.