How do you explain the homeless to your kids? (eat, money)

[seattlenextyear]

Next up on Seattle area City data forums:

Short people- Are they short because of their genes, or do they just lack ambition to be tall?

[fy10fyr]

I deal with the homeless nearly every day I work, and for the most part, it is the same group of people, over, and over, and over again. Plenty of them have had ample opportunity to get help and chose not to. And yes, some are mentally ill, and some have had an incredible run of bad luck. But for every one that's mentally ill, or unlucky, there are five flat-out dysfunctional a-holes, who prefer to stay on the street, drinking, fighting with the other dysfunctional a-holes, pi$$ing on the sidewalk, and generally contributing nothing.

They've been enabled by society, and some places more so than others. Where do you think the term "Free-attle" came from?

[brandonlee206]

This is too funny...where do they get this stuff?

Originally Posted by jrtayloriv

I love it when people look down on someone for being "homeless" and "drinking on the sidewalk". All he is doing is numbing out. He's numbing out the same way the yuppie dad that started this thread probably numbs out by watching TV, listening to Perry Como, or drinking diet cola. It's unhealthy and nasty, but so is everything else this society is doing. To the original poster -- your answer should have been something along the lines of "Son, he's getting drunk because he's trying to hide from a world that's tearing itself to pieces. You shouldn't be too quick to judge him. Because you too are numb -- look at you, sitting in this little glass and steel box, belching poison, making noise, and cutting you off from the outside world. Look at all the toxic chemicals in the food you eat .... do you have it any better?" Try that one out next time.

[Chest Rockwell]

I think there are valid points all the way around - but too much self righteousness and shortsightedness too.

We live in a society where our ability to generate money and our outward appearance are the primary ways we are judged by others. So it's entirely natural to look down upon or even loathe someone who generates no money, lacks the basic ability to clean himself, and simply loiters around making others nervous. I look down upon the homeless myself, but to say that helping them is simply enabling them, therefore they don't deserve our help is also saying that people aren't entitled the basics of food and shelter. Because these people don't even have that.

The short sightedness comes in when we make judgements about the causes of homelessness and use our own ability to solve problems as a baseline for why the homeless should be able to lift themselves out of their hole. I think many of the causes of chronic homelessness could be overcome if our society paid a little more attention to healing and rehabilitating these people. Turning the homeless into productive citizens would help stop the enormous drain on our economy and our conscience. Why isn't more effort made toward this end?

I agree that giving money to panhandlers is a bad idea, because they generally don't have enough sense to use this money properly. However, local shelters, soup kitchens and food banks are always low on funds and it's a shame.

I don't think anyone is going to solve the homelessness problem on a message board, but thinking about it is a good start. And really, isn't working to reduce homelessness a more important topic than how to sugar coat it for your kids?

[70Ford]

Originally Posted by jrtayloriv

I love it when people look down on someone for being "homeless" and "drinking on the sidewalk". All he is doing is numbing out. He's numbing out the same way the yuppie dad that started this thread probably numbs out by watching TV, listening to Perry Como, or drinking diet cola. It's unhealthy and nasty, but so is everything else this society is doing. To the original poster -- your answer should have been something along the lines of "Son, he's getting drunk because he's trying to hide from a world that's tearing itself to pieces. You shouldn't be too quick to judge him. Because you too are numb -- look at you, sitting in this little glass and steel box, belching poison, making noise, and cutting you off from the outside world. Look at all the toxic chemicals in the food you eat .... do you have it any better?" Try that one out next time.

Lay off the weed, dude.

[woodinvilleguy]

This thread is getting way too personal and angry.

Please just chill out and state your facts without telling someone that they are wrong.

[70Ford]

Off track? A bit. Angry? Who's angry? Why should we be angry about the homeless issue? I would say some show concern...some show disdain...and some are nonchalant.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by AzDreamer

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if a lot of Vietnam vets are homeless druggies. Many of the GIs there spend a large part of their time getting high. When they got home they kept at it.

Maybe if they had to get jobs to eat they would have to get sober. Since bleeding hearts take care of them and treat them like children we'll never know.

This has to be the single worst idea I'd ever read on these forums, or any of them, for that matter. What a horrible, uninformed comment.

AZDreamer> It shouldn't surprise you that alot of Vietnam vets are homeless druggies. But you should also add psychologically damaged as you describe them, and also mention why're they're all three things.

First, Vietnam was unlike any of the other previous wars where you understood your enemy. WWI's trench warfare -- you absolutely knew your enemy -- he was standing in a ditch quite similar to yours across the way from you. Vietnam stands opposed to all other wars in that this type of guerilla warfare was pretty knew, and extremely to Americans. Bombs were strapped to children, others had semi-automatic weopens and it was YOUR neighbor's son who had to decide between his own life and that child's. Palm trees in Vietnam are also approximately 5 feet in length per branch -- many times an enemy combatant is disguised inside of said tree and completely comes out of nowhere. This was an extremely psychologically damaging war where not only did you not understand your terrain but you didn't understand your enemy either. Essentially, it was whoever WASN'T you.

Are you unaware of how many vets came back so psychologically damaged from the war? How do you escape mental strain? Drugs... possibly. Suicide? Many a time. How do you readjust to American society after that? Your generalization of GI's is so unbelievably misguided and sad -- actually maddening, that I hope you don't try to win an argument and take note of what I'm saying.

Secondly, and even worse, Vietnam veterans came home to promised benefits that thousands and thousands NEVER received from its government. Not only did tens of thousands of soldiers perish, but many more came home without arms and legs, and as I mentioned earlier, without minds or souls. Now they come home and find out they have no money, no home, no prospects, no health benefits.

To your LATER unbelievable comment, THAT'S why bleeding hearts donate to Vietnam veterans, NOT because anyone believes they can save them from self-induced drug binges.

Unreal.

[70Ford]

Local News | A modern-day Hooverville opens in Seattle | Seattle Times Newspaper

[Freebird2007]

sorry to say,


I don't really feel that sorry for them and feel that they need to be moved away from downtown areas where tourists hoping to experience Seattle come every year. coming from the East Coast, I was shocked at the number of homeless and crazies that walk around here.


I love how Seattle wants to pour in another $40mil to deal with the shanty towns

gotta love communism