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Very few homeless people I've ever talked to are that lucid. The ones that did have it together like that guy were short-term homeless - like 3-5 months tops & they were able to navigate the resources available to get back on their feet. If you spend more time than that on the street it's hard to keep your sanity, if you had it in the first place.
The long term homeless, in my experience, are there for a reason. There are programs to get them back into housing & jobs -- they can't keep jobs because they're addicted or mentally handicapped or both. Sometimes they'll keep a job for a few days or a couple weeks but then spaz out, get fired or quit.
Some people are just like that. I have a cousin that's just ever so slightly not quite with us. He's never lived on his own. He's had jobs but never keeps them for long. If his parents didn't take care of him he'd be on street, I have no doubt of that. Some people are just not capable of taking care of themselves 100% of the time and its sad we don't help them more.
What's sad about the homeless is that most of us would start to go kind of batty after living like that for months. The homeless were mostly already marginal people - they need extra help to bounce back and most people just put them down even worse. For most of them that I've dealt with - money is not what they need. A job is not even what they need in the short-term. They need life-skills training and and mental help, and quite frankly what they need are whatever network that most of us have (family) that keeps us off the street when things get rough.
Last edited by redguard57; 12-26-2014 at 01:40 AM..
I've always been good to my family ... Therefore, if I develop a mental problem, they'll help me. AND, my "chest isn't out," I'm just stating facts. Most of them have made bad decisions, not my problem.
You are very fortunate to have a family, and that your family cares about you. Many people are not so fortunate. They have no one.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,158,957 times
Reputation: 8105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Better Than You
.......Did you not read my post where I typed "I realize life can change in an instant."? Do you not comprehend what that means? I'll explain it to you. I. Could. Get. Sick. I. Could. Lose. My. Job. I. Could. Go. Crazy. I. Could. Have. A. Terrible. Accident. Understand yet? I'm not fallible, but I can guarantee you I'll never be on the streets begging for dope/booze money.
.......
Surprisingly enough, most homeless addicts didn't get into their drug of choice with the intention of becoming homeless "scum". The way that you, in particular, might get trapped by an addictive drug is simple enough ....... if you're in excruciating pain, say in the hospital after a terrible accident, you will want and receive painkillers - and the only ones that work for the highest levels of pain are addictive. The doctor's idea is to wean you off after the pain has subsided, but some take longer than anticipated for the pain to go down ...... you may imagine you could tough it out and get off when you don't need it, and most people do - but others have noticed that in addition to relieving pain, the drug makes you feel incredibly good (not everyone has that total euphoria).
Try to get off it, and you feel tense, nauseous, depressed, anxious ....... you puke, have violent diarrhea, your muscles twitch and cramp ...... so you find excuses to get just one more prescription, after which you promise yourself to get off it. But then you try to do so, but something bad happens to you one day soon after and you just want to relax and feel good again, so you get back on it - just one last time.
After a few weeks or months, you find the original dose wasn't working for you, so you take just a little bit more ...... but your doctor won't go along with that program, and you have to score some at great expense out on the street, maybe some oxycodone or heroin.
You keep at that for a while, but eventually you start using up your rent money for the drug. Soon you get evicted for non-payment. Friends and family are more than happy to let you couch surf at first, but after a while they can't handle the situation with your mood swings and your drug pals being around all day and night. Eventually no one will let you stay, and then you become homeless junkie scum.
Surprisingly enough, most homeless addicts didn't get into their drug of choice with the intention of becoming homeless "scum". The way that you, in particular, might get trapped by an addictive drug is simple enough ....... if you're in excruciating pain, say in the hospital after a terrible accident, you will want and receive painkillers - and the only ones that work for the highest levels of pain are addictive. The doctor's idea is to wean you off after the pain has subsided, but some take longer than anticipated for the pain to go down ...... you may imagine you could tough it out and get off when you don't need it, and most people do - but others have noticed that in addition to relieving pain, the drug makes you feel incredibly good (not everyone has that total euphoria).
Try to get off it, and you feel tense, nauseous, depressed, anxious ....... you puke, have violent diarrhea, your muscles twitch and cramp ...... so you find excuses to get just one more prescription, after which you promise yourself to get off it. But then you try to do so, but something bad happens to you one day soon after and you just want to relax and feel good again, so you get back on it - just one last time.
After a few weeks or months, you find the original dose wasn't working for you, so you take just a little bit more ...... but your doctor won't go along with that program, and you have to score some at great expense out on the street, maybe some oxycodone or heroin.
You keep at that for a while, but eventually you start using up your rent money for the drug. Soon you get evicted for non-payment. Friends and family are more than happy to let you couch surf at first, but after a while they can't handle the situation with your mood swings and your drug pals being around all day and night. Eventually no one will let you stay, and then you become homeless junkie scum.
It can happen to almost anyone.
Yes, sometimes. I know the routine, but sometimes you have to get a grip. It's a shame for those too weak to do that.
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,158,957 times
Reputation: 8105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Better Than You
Yes, sometimes. I know the routine, but sometimes you have to get a grip. It's a shame for those too weak to do that.
Yes, it's a shame ..... but you shouldn't call them nasty names and act like they're subhuman ...... or at least realize that by far most of them aren't subhuman. The truly subhuman ones usually end up in prison or get rich.
My last encounter with a homeless man: He was young guy walking down the street (late on a cold night) in tattered cloths, shoes were nearly walked out of, and wrapped in an old blanket. I live on a main highway, so it's rather wide and he was on the other side.
I was just coming home when I spied him, and I was moved to do something, I had to. I grabbed some cash and started yelling to get him to stop walking away from me. He stopped turned and as I approached he said "I didn't do anything, please don't hurt me" and that stopped me in my tracks for second. Overcome with emotion I said I wasn't angry and handed him the money begging him to get some food.
The look on is face was indescribable. It wasn't much ($20), as I really don't have much extra myself... but it was well worth it and I know it helped him, if just a little. Sometimes a little is enough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basilide
I teared up reading this. Thanks for sharing.
When I was homeless I never begged, but in shelters there were often charity events from various organizations, mostly around Christmas.
Many of these events were real blessings... like the department store that allowed us to shop for $150 dollars worth of clothes. We got to choose anything we wanted in the store -- all to ourselves before it opened. I was sixteen and still wore clothes from when I was eleven. Everyone was nice to us and we didn't feel judged or looked down at all. I kept all of those clothes and wore them until they were in tatters. I finally let go of the last garment two years ago.
At another charity, we were given a free breakfast at a nice restaurant and the kids got presents from Santa. After eating nothing but surplus prison food and cans and cans of fruit cocktail and other donation foods (and gaining 30 lbs on that diet), it was the first nice meal I'd had in over a year.
A bad charity experience was from two high school girls. For Halloween they decided to bake cupcakes for homeless children (I guess to check off volunteer service on their portfolios). They had their little setup and were giving out cupcakes, and when they saw me they looked like deer in headlights and refused to look at me or talk to me when I tried to say hello. I guess my age hit too close to home for them. At the time, I was very hurt by their reaction and hid in a public restroom for the rest of the day, ashamed of myself.
It wasn't just the items that were a blessing but the taste of a normal life. Of being treated like a real person and not a taboo, a failure of a human being or a curiosity. Charity or giving relationships should emphasize the person (instead of the pity case) in a gesture of friendship; and I hope that word is spread more and more. It was over 10 years ago that I was homeless, but I still haven't resolved all the trauma, fears and guilt associated with the experience.
TY so much!!!
People like whogo don't seem to possess compassion, treating all these posts like it's some sort of joke. To liken the typical homeless person to a hooker is an insult, and tells me everything I need to know about their state of mind.
It's hard to believe some here are so thoughtless and indifferent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Woof
Yes, it's a shame ..... but you shouldn't call them nasty names and act like they're subhuman ...... or at least realize that by far most of them aren't subhuman. The truly subhuman ones usually end up in prison or get rich.
CHEERING!
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