I come from the Let’s All Get Along school. If people of goodwill are willing to sit down for a few hours to hash out an issue, there usually is a way to figure out things.
It doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes people are too entrenched in their positions. They would rather fight and get nothing – as opposed to compromising and getting half a loaf.
Occasionally those who are more confrontational bring about real progress. Even though they can make the rest of us uncomfortable along the way, we need to give credit where it is due.
One person comes to mind, Robert Rosebrock.
Mr. Rosebrock can be a royal pain. I speak from much personal experience.
He is the guy who has been pushing for the VA to do more for homeless veterans at the West L.A. campus – literally for decades.
Maybe you have seen him leading protests on Sunday afternoons, from 1 to 4, at the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente boulevards. As part of his quest, he has been arrested, he got the ACLU to file a lawsuit and the lawsuit recently was settled in a way that should bring relief to homeless veterans. He never quit. He still isn’t about to give up.
Veteran activists like Mr. Rosebrock like to say it’s the rich people of Brentwood who somehow convinced the VA to keep the homeless veterans out of their backyard. In the main, I don’t think that is correct.
It’s true, I heard a tiny bit of this NIMBY talk on rare occasions over the years. But I think most Brentwoodians really want to see the VA do more to help homeless veterans.
Now that this is starting to happen, most of the people I know are cheering on the VA.
I saw Mr. Rosebrock at the opening of Building 209 the other day. I asked him if he was happy to see how things are now finally unfolding.
I told him he should be proud of what he did, for his efforts could pay off for countless veterans for many years to come.
He was not happy, he assured me. There is a state of emergency out there on the streets, he said. Far more can and must be done – and much more quickly, he added.
He actually seemed pretty disgusted with what’s happening – or not happening – at the VA.
Though he doesn’t see it today, I hope Mr. Rosebrock eventually comes to realize he has done something with real meaning. He has helped make history, really, returning the VA to its original intent – providing an Old Soldiers Home for disabled veterans.
It’s pretty clear this wasn’t going to just happen on its own. It wouldn’t have happened without Mr. Rosebrock’s agitating. In helping some homeless veterans, he has helped all of us, really. He made something happen that we all should want.
I am reminded of that great quote by George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
In this case, Mr. Rosebrock was the unreasonable man. He bent history in the direction of his cause.
I think Mr. Rosebrock should now be reasonable and give the new team over at the VA a fair chance. But Mr. Rosebrock likely will continue to agitate. He obviously thinks the current VA administrators are being unreasonable by not moving faster.
Maybe Mr. Rosebrock’s continued pressure could result in the VA doing more at a quicker pace. Then again, maybe it’s time for us all to join, arm-in- arm, and work together on this.
There I go again.
For a moment, let’s stop and recognize those who irritate. Though they can be a pain, they also can do the rest of us a favor by making the world a more just place.
Mr. Hall’s essay originally appeared in Westside Today (westsidetoday.com)
