Reading over this thread, I am really shocked (probably more than I should be, admittedly). If you stop for a minute and really think about it, I'm sure that you all know someone (a relative, friend's relative, someone!) who it wouldn't take a great stretch of the imagination to picture homeless. If your Uncle Joe, or Aunt Jane, or your friend Jen's Granpa John, or whoever, DIDN'T have a family looking out for them and taking care of them, then where would they be? How would strangers see them, when they are dirty, and alone, and not on their pills? To you, they are a familiar face who deserves compassion and help, but tweak the circumstances just a little bit, and then they're that bum on the street who scares people and everyone is so horrified and angry about.
