The other day I popped my RENT soundtrack into my cd player to listen to as I drove to Fort Hayes. Every time I listen to it, I find something new to love about it. Since I'm playing the playwright now with my show "Faust" (which goes up in March), I can appreciate Jonathon Larson's talent as a playwright. He managed to capture the energy and emotion of artists in the mid- to late 90's perfectly, as well as provide an accurate, heartfelt depiction of life with AIDS. Larson was unarguably one of the best playwrights and social commentators of our time and generation, and his talent will be missed.
In listening to the show again, however, I realized that I sympathize with the show's antagonist. Benny is a young man planning to open a revolutionary new studio. The lot for his studio, however, is inhabited by a homeless community (oxymoron??). In order to develop the studio, these homeless persons must be shooed from the lot. Maureen, however, stages a protest and drums up support against Benny's studio. When asked what happened to his ideals, Benny replies, "any owner of that lot next door has the right to do with it as he pleases." And he's right. Benny shouldn't be antagonized for being a businessman. He may have lost the ideals of his bohemian friends, but he has become successful, and by right can develop any land he can pay for. The homeless persons on his lot have never worked for anything or have not worked hard enough (hence their homelessness), and as such, don't have any right to Benny's lot. Though Benny's attitude toward the homeless is less than compassionate, it's not illegal, and it's not exactly unfounded either. Why should the productive members of society be forced to pay the way of the unproductive?? This is a capitalist nation, and as such, survival of the economically fittest prevails (and thank God for it!). These people have fallen through the cracks economically by not pulling their own weight (I'm not saying exceptions don't exist, but I'm generalizing), and in doing so have forfeited their right to a piece of the financial pie. People who are able to work and don't should not be compensated (welfare) for their laziness. Thus, Benny has every right to kick the homeless in his lot to another curb.
I consider myself a very compassionate person. I think it's sad that some people lack the motivation to make something of themselves, and I think organizations that work with the homeless and jobless to revitalize and install them in the workforce should be commended. However, it is not the task of the government to see that the homeless are taken care of. That is the work of benevolent individuals and organizations, not a government that operates on the foundation of freedom and capitalism. When a government takes away one person's liberties to provide another with something that isn't even owed to them (welfare), then it is operating as a socialist, or even communist regime, not a free and independent nation. |
