Shelter Features Oppression, Residents 'Pay' By Putting Up With It

Don’t think I haven’t wondered if I should have kept my mouth shut at work at the homeless shelter.
Maybe I should have stood idly by for longer than I did while the shelter director imposed her bizarre brand of behavior modification via control and fear and veiled threats.
It does something to your spirit when you see this day after day – people treated poorly by an authority-addicted crazoid. There is only one word for it: Oppression.
Hit your thesaurus key on Microsoft Word (shift F7, I use mine a lot) with “oppression” highlighted. You will see these synonyms: Domination, Coercion, Cruelty, Tyranny, Repression, Subjugation. Not a very friendly list. Other words in this family include Intimidation, Bullying, Meanness, Duress and Defeat.
Business-As-Usual persists at the Volunteers of American Sheridan Community Homeless Shelter, even though this dysfunctional family of words describe the reality with which vulnerable people live at the shelter.
Don’t get me wrong – homeless persons are not weak or puny underlings. They are fabulous people with deep spirits and a great deal to offer the world around them.
They are, however, vulnerable, as they are in the midst of a critical need for a place to live, a job, a safe place, some stability. They are made all the more vulnerable because they must pay “rent” at the shelter by obeying and bending to the whims of a capricious director and at least one of her staff.
“Oppression” as a word is ugly, but you should see it in action at the shelter.
Usually, oppression of the poor is something folks around here would have to see on the news. But thanks to the shelter, all we have to do is walk up the hill and peek inside.