homeless rant
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- magnificent_ruin0
they may not have abandoned their integrity and self respect, they may be mentally ill. even if not, we'll see how well you do if you lose your family and your job and can't get another
- bjladams0
got called out the other day for buying a homeless guy a coffee.
i often by him coffee.
a building manager on the block said that encourages them to stay around, so i should just direct them to the mission a couple streets over.
this morning i brought the manager a coffee. a few sips and she said that it "wasn't a very good brew today, but thanks for the thought"
i agreed that it wasn't very good... it came from the mission.
then, on cue, the homeless guy walks by and thanks me for the coffee.
- scarabin0
maybe they just don't buy into the whole system, man
*rips bong*
- +1monospaced
- This aggression will not stand, man.brandon_phillip
- uuuuuu0
Many people on the street really can't help themselves. They need people to reach out to them and even then its not enough. They've lived in a world of abuse, misery, poverty, mental illness for their entire lives. You should feel pity for them because you and they are human and I'd guarantee you have no idea what its like to be them.
- teh0
I have a personal story. A girl a knew for a long time had a brother who was always ranting about the government, exporting american jobs and a decent wage. He was a tool and dye guy. Had a wife then he did something I guess in poor judgement. He sabotaged a job that was going to China. This he told me on the streets where he was living. He was fired, wife left him and he hated everything so he took to the streets.
Working in the busy district of th city I bumped into him in between to newspaper stands. I couldn't believe it he still ahd his sister's number, I called her and she said the same thing. He hates the world and wants nothing to do with it.
I started to get the same vibe from other homeless people, vets from nam, "lots" jobs disgusted with the systems. Guys with no legs, suffering from aids and hunger.
Its all just a fucked up situation that no matter how many I talk to I jsut can't rap my head around homelessness. I do know that the standard of living is going through the roof and wages are going down and rent seems to go up year after year.
- scarabin0
i wanna try it
- bjladams0
@scarabin - i had some friends during college that were doing a combined thesis on... something... i can't remember... but at any rate, as part of their project they lived with the homeless for a week. walking the streets, sleeping wherever, getting food from the mission or the dumpster behind chic-fil-a ...
biggest thing that shocked them was that they were given coins and dollars everywhere they went, and between them collected over $700 during the week.
- in SF? you keep saying mission, but i just wanted to make sure you were using it as a geo location and not a buildinglvl_13
- physical building :)lvl_13
- no, this was in tulsa. just meaning the tulsa area mission (can't remember the proper name)
bjladams - ah okay. thanks. was wondering if you were my neighbor :Dlvl_13
- haha - eyes on the road.bjladams
- i think i'd be more down for the experiment if i were still in my 20s. i'd miss my toys too muchscarabin
- robulation0
I NEVER used to have ANY compassion for homeless people until I got involved with doing some creative work raising the profile of a homeless charity.
Turns out that most people are homeless because of years of sexual or mental abuse, usually by their parents or family members, and then drugs take hold because they need to escape from the shit they went through. It's not always about a roof over their head, money, or shelter, it's about taking really small steps towards understanding their individual needs.
For example, some cannot face being in a house because it's linked to the trauma of their dad botting them furiously every day of their lives.
So, yeah, just thought I'd share what I've learned from it... my view has completely changed.
- cannonball19780
Lets not forget that "mentally ill" just means that someone's way of thinking doesn't fit in with our system's normative constraints.
- mg330
I worked with a guy once who saw a young kid begging for money outside a McDonalds in a snowstorm. He needed money for food and was maybe 12 or something. So my friend offered to buy him food - as much as he wanted - and the kid acted shitty about it. He ended up taking the food - they actually sat down and ate together - but it's sad to think that he really wanted money because some shithead mom or dad sent him out there to beg for them.
- this has happened to me before. scumbag parents.inteliboy