homeless rant
Out of context: Reply #50
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- kelpie0
the thing which always gets me about people having a go at homeless people (or for that matter, any of the people on the periphery of their society), is that none of them exhibit any empathy at all - i
the standard statement is:
"why don't they pick themselves up and play by the rules? why should have to A. see them on my way to work, or B) put up with them panhandling; their are means to help themselves",
this is people making no attempt to understand that their is likely a story there; that that person is human and might not have the emotional means to match up to your prescribed step by step plan to get the fuck out of your rich middle class faces and stop crowding the pavement. So you drive to work every day and pay your taxes - good for you, you've won the modern society game, pat yourself on the back. The people you're complaining about are the folk who lost, the non stakeholders, and its a hard world if you're on the outside; the institutions there to help you are generally only funded enough to salve the guilt of the haves, not genuinely construct a system capable of helping the have nots. And maybe you're not capable at this time of making the tough steps to finding a 'normal' life; maybe the single minded conviction it takes to put yourself through the pain of that is beyond you. You know, I suspect its not the most conducive atmosphere to positive optimism about the future, living rough, whaddya think?
And even though they only effect your lives in tiny, unimportant ways, you still don't have the empathy to even just ignore them and leave them be, let alone try to help them yourselves.