homeless rant
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- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- scarabin0
i wanna try it
- 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.
- 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.
- scarabin0
maybe they just don't buy into the whole system, man
*rips bong*
- +1monospaced
- This aggression will not stand, man.brandon_phillip
- 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.
- 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
- craighooper0
Regarding the original thread post...
Yes, there is a reason why they have become what they have. Have some compassion—I highly doubt they want to be in the situation they are in. It's a nasty symptom of modern life. There were WAY less homeless people in the 1960's, 70's, and early 80's. Why is this? Because of government cut-backs and hospital closures across North America—the result—a flood of mentally ill people walking the streets.
It's fucking tragic—and we can fix it. We can fly into space, we can feed, clothe, and house these human beings.
- doesnotexist0
homelessness is a state of mind
- Nairn0
EAT THE POOR.
- (Ensure meat is cooked through before consumption)Nairn
- LOLlocustsloth
- locustsloth0
The fact is you DON'T have to give them money. If you feel like it's their fault that they are in the situation they are in (an amazing determination since you probably see an average of 60sec of their life), ignore them, don't give them money. If they are doing something illegal, like defiling your residence (as in the druggie in the basement story a couple pages back) or stealing, you call police, like you would for any other person, homeless or not.
But to take up the righteous attitude that they shouldn't besmirch your vision, and all this apparent anger towards them signals something is up with YOU. Either you resent the fact that they are able to exist without the constraints that you live with, as has been mentioned here (ignoring, of course, that they have a multitude of constraints of their own) or the fear of becoming them is so great that you want to push them away, get them out of your sight so the specter of you ending up in that situation can't cross your mind. There have been times in my life where i felt this way and it's just like any other fear, you can't successfully stuff it down or pack it away unless you deal with it head on.Otherwise, If they biggest offense is making you "sick of seeing them", live and let live. If you really want to help, don't call the cops, buy them a sandwich or a gallon of water.
- designbot0
I generally never give money to homeless people, but I always take each situation case by case and use discretion. Like some of the stories I see above not all homeless people have the same story. When you see them everyday it is easy to grow cold, and even get annoyed that they are asking for money. I think we should all have compassion for them. Jesus himself had compassion for, and even healed many people that would have been considered bums or hobos in his day.
My thinking is my money would be much more beneficial if I give it to a charity with low overhead that helps people who are homeless. Often times they will adress the real issues in the persons life to get them back on their feet. Simply handing someone a wad of cash is not going to fix the deeper issues that they almost always have, and thus often times even contributes to worsen their problems.
One other idea (never had the courage to do this....yet) that is somewhat radical but I think would be better than handing over money is this...get to know the homeless person. Buy lunch for them and sit down and talk face to face to them. I can only imagine they are so used to being treated like shit that for someone to actually aknowledge them as a fellow human being would really impact them. To let them know that someone actually cares about them would probably be pretty profound. You could get to know them and find out exactly how you could best help them.
- Wolfboy0
When I was at University I kind of became a bit more right wing towards homeless people. I studied in Falmouth down in Cornwall and in the late spring when weather finally turns nice it is one of the most beautiful places to be in England.
And every spring there would be an influx of homeless people that would suddenly appear. They would sleep on the piers and I think on the beaches, drinking cheap booze and begging. But non of them seemed to have Cornish accents, they were making the effort to travel to Cornwall to be homeless in nicer surroundings.
Now on the surface that sounds kind of reasonable, everyone wants to have nice surroundings right? But I always thought (and still do) it can't be easy to get that far in to Cornwall with next to no money so they must have made quite an effort to do this every year. Which to me means it's a choice to live like that, they had the drive and the motivation to live in a certain place at a certain time but no motivation to earn a living - instead they want to beg, take money from others. I could just never see why I should work hard, get myself into debt as a student and give them money to drink and hang out on a beach.
- tis the scrumpy me boy. Wood Lane posse huhmax_prophet
- sure am, I was there at the turn of the century. It's getting scarily close to being 10 years since I left.Wolfboy
- mcLeod0
its interesting to see how you all assume you know how I think. sure the initial post was worded harshly, but don't assume I am some Lebowski type who hates all homeless. My uncle was homeless and he was perfectly sane and drug free. he was just lazy and couldn't hold a job. I take it on a case by case basis. I have helped the helpless countless times but when I see perfectly able people not taking any initiative it breaks my heart, and whether its for compassionate reasons or selfish ones I just don't want to see it.
I truly thank all of you for all of your points (save for the useless insults on my character)
- cashfaced0
The Famous Bushman from San Francisco...makes 60k a year
- max_prophet0
what an ignorant, privileged cunt this McShite kid is
