He would not give us his name. He told us he left home to not be a burden on his family because he had no health insurance. He said he would just live on the street until he died, and that way his children would remember him the way he was when he left them. Before we walked away, he said, "You know why I don't care? I am dying of cancer, and I am not afraid. I lost everything, but you can't take it with you right? Who would want to anyway? It would just weigh you down."

The systems of governance and community we create must hold many elements of life in constant consideration, the highest of which is freedom of the individual to live the life they choose in safety. Of course these considerations go beyond more than mere individualism, because the individual cannot exist outside of the many spheres of the deeply interconnected webs of life, so our solutions must also be organic and holistic. It is tremendously short-sighted when individuals, institutions, communities or other idea-constructs, fail to consider people during all stages of life. It is especially disgraceful when our created society fails to respond to the human indignities of not having our simple needs met, for we are all frail-embodied creatures, who at times suffer through injustice, abuse, illness, pain and misfortune. When a society becomes that insensitive and impotent, those dysfunctional or malignant parts must be engaged, and then transformed or eliminated to make way for more sensible and humane constructs. In other words, those constructs are bad ideas, which must be replaced with better ideas.

Read More in Bryant's Book or Collection:

• SOCIAL ISSUES
• Voice of Reason: Speaking to the Great and Good Spirit of Revolution of Mind