homeless rant
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- mcLeod
there is a homeless woman camping in the doorway of an abandoned building around the corner from my house, and she has been there for a few months. as of this afternoon she has a new hobo neighbor in the next doorway. I don't feel bad for them at all and frankly I am tired of looking at them as I drive by to my job every morning.
at one point does one abandon their integrity and self respect to become like this even though the resources are available to help people in these situations?
- sikma0
there's never a "point"
it's just a slow steady slide down.
- coco_ono0
why don't you call the po-po or help them out. approach them like mormons.
- epete220
From my experience they do not want to help themselves or use the resources provided. When i was a kid, I went camping and i saw this bum lady digging cans out of the trash and I asked
"why would you do that?"
and she responded
"I recycle all the cans that the campers leave behind and it allows me to get a room at the extended stay hotel every couple of weeks."
I thought to myself, why doesn't she put drive into rebuilding her life but I guess she was content on how she was.
- sikma0
They need to help themselves. That's why homelessness has no easy fixes.
- mcLeod0
as much as I think I should, I can't bring myself to feel any pity for this woman. somehow she is able to get over to the 7-eleven every day to get her big gulp and cigarettes. I feel as if I don't owe her anything since I know she is capable of helping herself. I did call the police today. we'll see if they are there tomorrow.
- morilla0
When I lived in Atlanta it was a daily occurrence and multiple times throughout the day. Going to my car, to the gas station, to the grocery store, to the studio, etc... At first I was a little taken a back and put off. But I grew to become accustomed to it, and would have good karma days when I would shell out some coin. Knowing damn well those f-ers went straight to the liquor store. But oh well... But it was depressing as fuck and I was so happy when I got out of that city.
- mcLeod0
I have heard every panhandling story and read every type of hobo sign at the traffic lights in the cities I have lived in. I never give them anything because they don't deserve the money I worked hard to earn for myself.
- UK hobos are the worse, I cant believe they would fall through the system and no-one is around to help them.booya
- pr20
mcLeod, not everyone want to the kind of sheep you are: wake-up, get stuck in the traffic on the way to work, 9-5 boredom where you never hold your balls and let your boss walk over you, stuck in traffic again while on the way back, get home, eats some plastic shit from the fridge, watch a silly movie on cable...
Some of those people choose this lifestyle, some of them are fucked and simply can get out. I'm not claiming i would feel bad for them but still i wouldn't call cap on them the way you did.
- haha I was writing the basically the same thing. If anything they feel sorry for us.sofakingbanned
- sofakingbanned0
They are doing what they do because they have chosen not to play the everyday bull shit game you and I play. To us a home, car and a regular meal at the kitchen table is a normal and acceptable life. being homeless is unacceptable to us because thats the agreement we have made with ourselves + this is what mainstream society tells us is correct.
Most homeless people do not fee the need for any of these... or at least on the same level as you and I.
Think about it, your concerned about paying the mortgage, you car bill, buy a new outfit for that special night, your iphone, a better tv, etc
They are worried about eating, keeping warm at night, and whatever their vice or pass time is. most will drink or use drugs, but i have seen homeless people that just want to play a drum on a street corner, or paint at a park.
They don't reach out for help or self improvement because they don't need it. they are not playing our game.
Just my 2¢
- he's my alter ego, but i'm still more handsome...pr2
- hahah I'll challenge the handsome part. cheers.sofakingbanned
- I feel sorry for us as well....morilla
- morilla0
at times, in this world we live in... I really feel like doing this, except for the ending.
- haha me too.epete22
- but we can never really choose our ending, can we?TheBlueOne
- Same here. Although, the movie itself was bad by comparison to the literary counterpart.thizzbobby
- the movie seems to romanticize his trip some, but the book shows he might have been mentally ill. still want to?
zenmasterfoo - That movie should have been half an hour shorter.mg33
- agreed. cut out all the BS. aftercrossing the river, jump cut to skinny, paralyzed, and dying.monNom
- what happens at the end?ohhhhhsnap
- cuke4260
crippling depression and/or mental disability are often the cause of homelessness; you could argue that each is the symptom of the other.
it's okay to have compassion even if you don't understand it; just have compassion for the parts you do understand, i.e. she's still sleeping outside at night when it's cold, even if it's 'by choice'
- skt0
maybe they should phone the police because they are sick of seeing your smug face driving past everyday?
- mcLeod0
I am not a cold person. I just know this woman is capable of taking herself to a shelter or a mission where she can find opportunities to get herself out of her situation, but it seems she chooses not to.
then there is this article in a local paper from a while back:
http://www.pitch.com/2006-12-14/…Name: Vincent
Age: 49 Tenure: Two years
Distinction: Cup rattler
Tools: A plastic bucket to sit on and a paper cup from any garbage can; each cup usually lasts a week.
Hangout: In front of The Gap on the Plaza
Smells like: Hangover
Odd detail: Wears a shiny silver watch.
Formal education: Lincoln College Preparatory Academy
Previous gig: Custodian for American Sweeping
Average take: $150 to $200 a day
Best take: $350 in seven hours
Trade secret: "I burn a hole in the bottom of it [the cup] for good luck. The change tends to rattle a little bit more with the hole in it."
Justification: "I'm not homeless. This is a job. I have a $78,000 home. I come out here. I sit on my bucket eight to 12 hours a day. I average 150 to 200 bucks a day. No job is gonna pay me that. So why not sit on my ass and get tax-free money? Everything I have on now was purchased from The Gap by customers. That's three sweaters, these jeans and this new plaid jacket. I've paid for the mortgage on my house, for light, gas, Dish Network and two cell phones." He commuted here in his Cadillac until he was spotted by a regular contributor, who got angry. He now gets dropped off and picked up to preserve his cover.Claim to fame: "Most of the people on the Plaza call me by my first name. I am one of the best, most professionalest panhandlers the Plaza has ever seen."
Best street Zen: "Respect goes a long ways. You have to be kind, courteous, polite. And if people don't give you anything, still say thank you."
- so this is the type of person who got credit? No job verification lolepete22
- mcLeod0
to those who called me bad words, did you do so because I called the police? and if that's the case then what other options would you have chosen? I didn't call to have them harassed or arrested. no one should be living in the doorway of a building especially when they have options available to them. the local authorities have them means to get them to where they need to go. just because I didn't offer them a ride or invite them into my home doesn't mean I am a prick or a twat.
- armsbottomer0
i don't really care what their issues are, or how they got in their current situation. quite frankly, it's none of my business. i simply feel sorry for homeless people and try to help them out whenever i can. cuke426 is right, many of these people are suffering from mental disabilities they have no financial means to treat. it doesn't matter how long i've worked my ass for, the spare change in my pocket has a proportionately different worth in the hands of someone who is homeless. if i see someone begging for change on the streets or sleeping on a sidewalk, i'm more than happy to help them out.
- sea_sea0
i just got home, and ran across a few homeless people on the street, it seems to be one of those nights for them because first i saw a guy running across the road, not minding traffic or his life for that mater and a girl running after him crying :( sad...
and then a block away i saw one on a bike take a plunge. :(i totally agree with salisae btw, most all these people have some form of mental disability or physical addiction. sad again.
- spmitch0
armsbottomer, say you walk to the corner store and are asked for money by two to three different people and then on the way home the same ones ask for money, do you give each of them money...
do you walk around with a little bag of change to provide for the homeless? Ask because this is the scene in Downtown DenverI'm sick of it - Fuck let them get jobs like the rest of us
"steps down off soapbox"
- skt0
sorry if i missunderstood your point mcleod, i didn't realise you had called the police in order to help them out. for some reason i thought it was bacause, frankly, you were tired of looking at them as you drove to your job every morning.
as you were.
- yeah man, he's got such a big heart we should all say "we are sorry"...pr2