Doing the right thing doesn't have to be newsworthy for its rarity

Getting a job can be difficult for anyone in our nation’s ongoing employment slump. For every job opening, there are currently more than three unemployed people looking for work. And those already-difficult odds are significantly exacerbated for job applicants who can’t afford a home…. “If you’ve been homeless and have a gap on your resume, people don’t give you a chance,” Seth Kelley, co-founder of RedTail Coffee in Fort Collins, told ThinkProgress by phone. “It’s a cycle that’s really hard to shake.”…. That’s why Seth, along with his wife Kelly, opened RedTail Coffee in May: to provide job opportunities to homeless and low-income applicants.

I realize I spend a good deal of time, brain cells, and column inches decrying the morons, the self-righteous, the haters, the selfish, and the obstructionists that make our public life the clusterf—k it tends to be. Every now and again, I catch myself and remember all over again that there are plenty of people doing the right things for the right reasons. It’s not always about religion or “What Would Jesus Do?” Sometimes, doing the right thing involves nothing more than a personal commitment to make a difference to whatever degree one is able. Religious faith may be the basis of your work…but it’s not a prerequisite.

The Kelleys looked around them and recognized how difficult it can be to break the cycle of homelessness. That “Catch-22” nature of homelessness is often that one “can’t get a job without a permanent address and can’t get a permanent address without a job.” It’s easy to discriminate against the homeless- after all, where’s the obvious benefit in standing up for someone you believe to be too lazy or shiftless to do for themselves?

The coffee shop founded by the Kelleys may seem too small to make a sizable, world-changing difference. It certainly won’t impact the problem of homelessness on a global level. What it does do is demonstrate that homelessness isn’t insoluble, that people committed to making a difference can do just that, even if only on a seemingly small scale. One or two people may not change the world, but no change begins except for one or two people recognizing a need and deciding it’s for them to address.

The world sometimes seems a mean, nasty, horrible place, filled with thugs and zealots willing to kill for their religious and/or political agenda. While that world certainly exists, it’s not the only one out there, though it’s what usually garners the most attention. There are too many willing to wield their religious beliefs like a club against those who don’t share them, but there are also many who make an effort to live their beliefs. There are also those who, for purely secular reasons, want to make a difference, to do what they can to make this world a better, kinder, and more harmonious place.

One coffee shop isn’t going to change the world, but it can help raise awareness that just might contribute to being that change. It’s a start, and the Kelleys should be commended for seeing a problem and deciding to become part of the solution. That won’t make the evening news in the way that war, famine, and pestilence will, but kindness doesn’t require weapons, ideology, or political power.

We can all be the change we wish to see. If more of us resolved to try something as seeming simple as being kind, we might discover that our world really can be a better place.