HOME AWAY FROM HOME

An opinion on the op-ed page of the January 22, 2014 New York Times by Stacy Torres talked about an incident in a McDonald's retaurant in Qweens, NYC where police were called to remove a number of people who had stayed in the restaurant for hours while purchasing only a cup of coffee.  There were mixed responses from the public with some applauding this and others feeling that it was not right and discriminatory. Ms. Torres points out that there is a growing population of elderly and homeless who frequent restaurants like McDonalds and will stay for hours and socialize with others.  Some of these people have indicated that they do not want to go to places for the elderly as they feel that they are places where you go to die and many of these people do not have any other place to go.  Many of them say that they like to be around other people and get lonely in their own places.  The restaurants are concerned about losing business at peak hours because of crowding as the elderly and homeless occupy a number of the seats and tables.  

So what to do? Keep calling the police to remove these people?  Hire security guards to either keep these people out of the restaurant or make them leave after a certain time limit?  Make a rule that if you only buy a drink then you can only stay for 15 minutes?  Ask these people to leave during peak times?  Ask these people to pay to stay in the restaurant when they are not buying any food?  Ask the other customers to donate money to help defray the costs of having these people stay in the restaurant and not buy food?  Ask the city to reimburse them for lost revenue?  Or should the restaurants welcome the elderly and homeless and have lower prices on meals and drinks for them?  And have neighborhood events at the restaurant that are open to anyone? 

So why is this important, or is it?  Well, we all need each other and need to be around each other or at least around some other people.  This helps us to feel better and be less stressed.  I have previously bloged about the importance of having reverence for all living things.  So it would seem clear that it is important for us to make room for each other and be with each other.  It just doesn't seem right for McDonald's to carry the responsibility for this by themself.