Veterans Day Reading: This Bench

Even though it sits between two train tracks raised high on a windy platform that itself is between the east- and westbound lanes of a major interstate, this bench is built to defend itself against anyone who might want to sleep on it. It made me think of two articles from earlier this year: This one about "defensive architecture," which can include bumps or spikes built into sidwalks or pommels like these on benches. And, on what is Veteran’s Day, this article, which should be called "Chickenhawk Nation," about the superficial appreciation we have for our military and those who serve in it. There are about 50,000 homeless veterans in the US, representing roughly 9% of all of our homeless people, and rather than spend enough on public services to care for those who need it – veteran or not – we treat homelessness like an externality, an effect not linked closely enough with any cause for it to show up in somebody’s budget. But it does make its way into budgets. This bench is a very small piece of evidence.