A Different Perspective on Homelessness.....

[DCPatriot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UhsGSYAdUs4

[DCPatriot]

What's missing here are explanations that your decisions in life may adversely affect your well being.

Why is this man still on the street aftere 1-1/2 years? 

is it an example of "The ant and the grasshopper"?

[alicewonders]

I know a few homeless men that hang around the neighborhood where our business is located, have known them for years and we are on a first name basis.  We save our pop cans for them.  The ones I know are hard working people that spend most of their days picking up scrap metal.  They are not thieves, but they are alcoholics.  You don't see them much the first week of the month because they are flush with money from their monthly check they get from the government - they spend it pretty quickly on alcohol and cigarettes.  The last two weeks of the month, they are busy pushing shopping carts full of any metal they can find to take to the scrap yard.

I soon discovered that they are living the life they choose to live.  Any of them could stay at the local shelter where they would get a bed and food, clean clothes, etc. - and they usually go there when the weather gets intolerably cold or bad.  But the thing they don't like there is that they aren't allowed to drink or do drugs & they don't want to have to follow those rules.  One of them actually has family that comes and picks him up at Thanksgiving and Christmas, takes him home to feast with them and then he is back on the street - usually with a new coat and shoes.

I feel sorry for them and pray for them, but I don't know what else I can do to help them.

[jmyrlefuller]

I know a few homeless men that hang around the neighborhood where our business is located, have known them for years and we are on a first name basis.  We save our pop cans for them.  The ones I know are hard working people that spend most of their days picking up scrap metal.  They are not thieves, but they are alcoholics.  You don't see them much the first week of the month because they are flush with money from their monthly check they get from the government - they spend it pretty quickly on alcohol and cigarettes.  The last two weeks of the month, they are busy pushing shopping carts full of any metal they can find to take to the scrap yard.

I soon discovered that they are living the life they choose to live.  Any of them could stay at the local shelter where they would get a bed and food, clean clothes, etc. - and they usually go there when the weather gets intolerably cold or bad.  But the thing they don't like there is that they aren't allowed to drink or do drugs & they don't want to have to follow those rules.  One of them actually has family that comes and picks him up at Thanksgiving and Christmas, takes him home to feast with them and then he is back on the street - usually with a new coat and shoes.

I feel sorry for them and pray for them, but I don't know what else I can do to help them.

Perhaps they don't need or want help. Sure, from our perspective, their existence is pitiable. However, in many ways, it is enviable. It is as close to total freedom as you could imagine. No rent, no restrictions, and as long as they can scrounge up enough cash for things they want and a place to put them, they can get anything they want. As the old song goes, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing ain't worth nothing, but it's free.

"Homelessness" may be a rough way of life, but it is not necessarily one that is always to be avoided.

[alicewonders]

Perhaps they don't need or want help. Sure, from our perspective, their existence is pitiable. However, in many ways, it is enviable. It is as close to total freedom as you could imagine. No rent, no restrictions, and as long as they can scrounge up enough cash for things they want and a place to put them, they can get anything they want. As the old song goes, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing ain't worth nothing, but it's free.

"Homelessness" may be a rough way of life, but it is not necessarily one that is always to be avoided.

That's an excellent point.  They are living life on their own terms and I have to say that sometimes when I am stressed out trying to run a business with all of the complications that entails - while trying to take care of my parents and run my own household too - sometimes I feel just a tiny bit of envy that they don't have to fill out paperwork and tax forms and run from one crisis to the next.  Most of these guys have been living like this for years, so I guess it works for them.  I did know one of them though that was murdered at his camp down by the river - some young punks getting their kicks - but that happens to people in their homes too. 

[240B]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbYpuUGCffI

[DCPatriot]

There's also 'falling into a routine'...and people in that environment get comfortable and are not susceptible to change.

As you say, they're either loners or depend on a buddy system to survive.






I saw this picture today.  How many of us could walk on by without helping him?  It's sad.

[alicewonders]

The ones that really get to me are the ones that have a little dog with them.   

[DCPatriot]

The ones that really get to me are the ones that have a little dog with them.   

Funny...I ran into one Memorial Day morning at the 7-11.  An elderly (old than me, lol) black man with an old mixed black lab...with grey whiskers on his leash.

When I came out with my coffee, I asked him "Is everything alright?"  He said, "Just fine, thank you".

"How old?"...as I reached down to pet him.
Not much later he casually asked me if I smoked?   I gave him a bill and told him to go buy some.  He looked at it and immediately offered to give me the change.    :


I always tell myself that was really Jesus I was helping.     

[Oceander]

Funny...I ran into one Memorial Day morning at the 7-11.  An elderly (old than me, lol) black man with an old mixed black lab...with grey whiskers on his leash.

When I came out with my coffee, I asked him "Is everything alright?"  He said, "Just fine, thank you".

"How old?"...as I reached down to pet him.
Not much later he casually asked me if I smoked?   I gave him a bill and told him to go buy some.  He looked at it and immediately offered to give me the change.    :


I always tell myself that was really Jesus I was helping.     

Maybe you did, in a way.

[alicewonders]

Funny...I ran into one Memorial Day morning at the 7-11.  An elderly (old than me, lol) black man with an old mixed black lab...with grey whiskers on his leash.

When I came out with my coffee, I asked him "Is everything alright?"  He said, "Just fine, thank you".

"How old?"...as I reached down to pet him.
Not much later he casually asked me if I smoked?   I gave him a bill and told him to go buy some.  He looked at it and immediately offered to give me the change.    :


I always tell myself that was really Jesus I was helping.     

"Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

[EC]

I'll not give them money.  Prefer to buy them food or a pack of cigs myself.

In the workshop there is a washing machine and dryer which are used for upholstery - so usually just sit there in the corner unused. We also have a shower in the toilets, as some of our work is incredibly dusty. Our local homeless - about 20 of them and we are on first name terms - know they are welcome to use them at any time. They do.
We also have the habit now of sticking any unwanted clothes in a cabinet next to the toilets. The odd new pack of socks and underwear may make it in there from time to time. 

[alicewonders]

I'll not give them money.  Prefer to buy them food or a pack of cigs myself.

In the workshop there is a washing machine and dryer which are used for upholstery - so usually just sit there in the corner unused. We also have a shower in the toilets, as some of our work is incredibly dusty. Our local homeless - about 20 of them and we are on first name terms - know they are welcome to use them at any time. They do.
We also have the habit now of sticking any unwanted clothes in a cabinet next to the toilets. The odd new pack of socks and underwear may make it in there from time to time. 

That's pretty nice EC.  The guy that has a gas station behind us lets them use his bathroom facilities, but they have to pay him a nominal charge every month to do so.  The ones I know are always fairly well dressed, and appropriate for the weather.  The river is about 5 or 6 blocks from our shop & some of them fish there.