My wife is a part time social worker at a state hospital, so she tells me some heartbreaking stories. The constant theme she hears is.."I never thought this could happen to me or my family."

If you have a job, medical insurance, home, family support...most view homelessness as "enough is enough."
If you lose your job, get seriously ill forcing you into poverty and no support..."public insensitivity."

The problem will always be two fold. You have many that have no choice but to be homeless and others that prefer it and do it for a living. For those that need help, they find it hard to get it due to all the red tape.

Homelessness has tripled in the last 10 years.

There is a big city lake behind my house surrounded by several thousand acres. In the last few years homeless people have built small tent cities around the lake, use the shelters for water, etc...The police run them out, but they come back. I would say 80% are the former white middle class, homes foreclosed, no jobs. I was shocked to find a disabled man that once lived in my neighborhood living back there. He had no disability plan and was waiting for SS approval, no income, no family. He stayed in his home until the sheriff removed him and just moved into the woods behind his home. I helped get him on medicare and he was in line waiting for S8 housing.

Many of the homeless are those ill, can't get proper meds or treatment.
Many think sick can go get free treatment and help from state hospitals or clinics, that's seldom the case unless a life threatening emergency. The red tape is as long as the wait. All levels of government are cutting programs that help the homeless.

Right now they say 72% of foreclosures are due to unemployment, people that once worked can't find work, more effected are the skilled trades. Millions more to come this year. If these people still can't find jobs, they can't even pay rent....sadly a number of them will end up homeless.

And here in Salt Lake we have a free clinic that runs on donations. You can get practically any kind of care you can think of there, and they have connections to local hospitals. The Homeless Shelters are also run strictly by donations - no state help at all.

Here at the VA Housing I'm in we partly pay our way by helping recycle medical supplies for that very clinic and others around the world.

One thing that many people tend to neglect when they pass judgment on these poor fellows is that nobody planned to be a beggar or a destitute on the street. Either by misfortune or string of them or their own fault nobody wants in that kind of position.

What many people here like to do is giving these people just a little or ridiculously little money then pass judgment on them afterward on their back. In a way they paid their cents to pass judgment on them :shifty:. What kind of judge would judge the misfortune of other people without full information of the man? And just who appoints them anyway? They do not exactly force anyone to give them alms. I find it revolting. It's like saying if you have HIV you must be sinful!

But I do know the reason why these people often pass judgment on them. These poor fellows made them to feel uneasy about themselves. If they didn't give these people anything they would be made to feel bad about themselves yet they actually do not wish to give them anything. So they take the middle road by giving them change which will not cost them anything and then pass judgment on them for making them feel uneasy. Welcome to the hypocrisy of the world of man. Probably one of the biggest reason why most never come to know God whom they claimed to worship. But the surprise is not that, the surprise is that they who are doing this do not realize why they are doing just that!!!! The mind makes it so that they won't feel guilty.

I say let them be, others attitude is not your problem. True compassion will never feel bad i think.

I never said it was my problem but it's definitely their problem.

Indeed I agree to that.

It was a reply to the first post.

Ah okay

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...7&postcount=16
http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5863/hatoffwed.jpg

well said Feuer Frei, can't agree more!

Thank you, i appreciate that :salute:

Everyone is in the wrong. Government for not doing what there suppose to do and protect the people there elected to do and the people who don't push there representatives to help those less fortunate.

But its also some part homeless's own fault. Choices they've made that where the wrong one. Whatever it may be.

Some people learn to late how nasty this world can be. Some still never learn. Its all about me me and not we.

I'd give them some spare change if I had any

But I'd pick who will I give it to. Usually those who werent all in your face or smth, (my english fails here). If he just said: ''hey mac, got any change'' '' shure, here 20 cents that are lying in my pocket''. But some of them just step infront of you and go all: ''we are friend right (wink wink) how's about a euro??'' Those get nothing

In my county of MD you do not have the right to beg. It is a $500.00 fine and imprisonment. Beggers were numerous and getting very agressive.

I believe the begger is wrong in the sense that he is disturbing the peace by begging. Again, here in my county the beggers were getting overly aggressive.

It is not his right in my county.

Same. I'm sorry but I feel giving money only encourages the begger to continue.

True.

Agreed.

One day I watched a begger. He was begging in the parking lot for quite some time. At 5 pm he seemed to have punched out on his mental time clock. He then proceeded to drive away in his Ford LTD. :o He was a professional begger.