A Bum In My Yard!!!

[boaz]

Quote:
While it is another subject of disagreement, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread. A discussion that stayed on topic without personal attack, kind of the way is should be.

With regard to the above quote, my hat is off to those that can practice this kind of faith. The letters in red tell us to do some fairly radical things without regard for the practical.

 

[redhen]

Another thing to consider is..
most times the ones we say "want to be homeless" are mentally challenged people...paranoid scizo...or war veterens with shell shock..(theres another name for it today...cant think of it now..) these people dont know any better sometimes... they live in their own little confused world..
and they deserve more help than our country gives them... Why can we go help people in Africa...but leave OUR mentally challenged people to suffer in OUR streets?..The supposed Land Of Plenty...
I just dont get it...I just cant understand why they dont round them up and place them in a safe place somewhere...with meds. BEcause thats another thing! They cant get their meds that they need to stay sane!!!... think about it...its a nasty cycle these people get into..and they cant get out of. We need to help them.

Now, the druggies.. thats a different story..dont get me started on them...

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
YES!
Indiana closed the home for the mentally unstable in Indianapolis several years ago, actually putting the patients out on the streets.

 

[wildorchid053]

we have alot of the people who stand at the entrance to wal marts. grocery stores. places like that.. their sign says .. homeless.. veteran.. etc. my son worked at a gas station beside one of those places and befriended a man who told him it is a quick way to make money.. he averages about 180.00 a day.. i need that job!

 

[ijon1]

Homeless people is not a new thing that just popped up in this this present day economy. Back in 1962 on my senior trip to Washington DC there were many homeless people in the bushes next to the motel we stayed in. This was a shock to me, being a farm boy that had never seen them before.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Years ago a reporter in Miami did a story on a supposedly homeless man who everyday had a sign. She didn't give him money instead she bought him some food. Unknown to him they videotaped him tossing it into a trash can. They later followed him home He lived in a very seclusive part of Miami in a gted community. He had paid for his mansion with the monies he collected every day.
Also alot of those metally ill people receive benefits. You don't need an address they give it to you on a debit type card. They know the system too If you ask they can tell you exactly where to go for free food,clothes etc. Alot of them have an established route after all what else do they have to do. I recently helped a vietman vetren get his disability benefits as he was living in a house without electricity for 2 years. Helped him get food stamps as well. Some folks need and ask for help others think they deserve it no questions asked

 

[CityChicker]

Quote:
Yeah, that is a topic that has come up in a couple of my classes: Deinstitutionalization. Tens of thousands of mental patients have been put out in the streets with no where to go.

Seriously though- when you really think about, aren't most homeless people mentally ill? I am not talking about people that lose their jobs or homes and end up with no roof over their heads temporarily. I am talking about the people that are on the streets more long term.

I am sorry but a *normal*, mentally healthy person does not "choose" to be homeless as a "lifestyle" or to be "carefree". That is just silly. I understand the reluctance of some people here to help the homeless, but I also think some are way over simplifying it as well. I guess it is easier to believe they are somehow beneath us, lazy, etc... then to believe in the good old USA we let mentally ill people sleep outside on the streets rather than care for them with compassion and dignity.

 

[joebryant]

Yeah, that is a topic that has come up in a couple of my classes: Deinstitutionalization. Tens of thousands of mental patients have been put out in the streets with no where to go.

Seriously though- when you really think about, aren't most homeless people mentally ill? I am not talking about people that lose their jobs or homes and end up with no roof over their heads temporarily. I am talking about the people that are on the streets more long term.

I am sorry but a *normal*, mentally healthy person does not "choose" to be homeless as a "lifestyle" or to be "carefree". That is just silly. I understand the reluctance of some people here to help the homeless, but I also think some are way over simplifying it as well. I guess it is easier to believe they are somehow beneath us, lazy, etc... then to believe in the good old USA we let mentally ill people sleep outside on the streets rather than care for them with compassion and dignity.


No "simplifying" at all. There's NOTHING "silly" about it at all. Many *normal*, mentally healthy persons DO "choose" to be homeless as a "lifestyle" or to be "carefree".

EDIT: BTW, most of them are very skilled at survival and they think that the people like us are nuts for falling for the "work ethic" and spending 40 hours a week working at our jobs. Now that I'm retired, I can see where they're coming from; retirement is the only way to LIVE.​

 

[jjdward]

I have worked construction all over Atlanta and had many run ins with "homeless" folks. Some we have offered a job and they gladly take it and work to the best of their ability and were greatful. Most however, don't take the jobs. They give all kind of reasons. If I'm ever asked for money I will offer to buy them some food. If they don't take that, I don't really care. That was their choice.

 

[TammyTX]

Quote:
That's terrible! I thought there were federal regulations against that. In the '70's Geraldo Rivera did the expose on the MHMR facilities in PA or NY (? I don't remember) and it changed the way they are handled.

I worked MHMR for a few years in the mid '80s and when they began shutting down the state school they put the residents in group homes but never "out on the streets".

We live out in the country but we found a lady rolling around on the ground at the end of our driveway around 10:00pm. She was drunk. Someone kicked her out of their vehicle because she wouldn't...well, you can guess what.

My husband and neighbor drove her home - 25 miles away - and my neighbor sat behind her in the vehicle with a gun the entire time and I sat on the front porch with a shotgun until they got back. We didn't know who this woman was or if it was a set up to lure us away from home, etc. My husband said at one point she grabbed her large bag and started digging through it frantically and it scared both men because they thought she was going to pull out a weapon. Turned out she was just looking for her drivers license to give them her address. That was about 20 years ago and I'm not sure if we would go to that extreme again....today I'd probably just call the Sheriff.