Quote:
Originally Posted by DSTRen13
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.  |
Exactly. My husband has an uncle. Child support takes his whole check. He has nothing. Finally, his car was repo'ed and he could not get to work and he lost his job. Because of this, he could not pay his rent and was evicted. He ended up in a mission. During the day, a bus took everyone downtown and unloaded them in the park. They had to take their belongings with them and wonder around aimlessly and pray that at the end of the day, they could score a bed at the mission again (Exactly like on The Pursuit of Happyness). He is not on drugs and he is not an alcoholic. But he refused to let someone know that he was in desperate need. He was trying to get back on his feet on his own. Finally my father-in-law took him in and is helping him get on his feet.