Homeless. Does anyone care?

[Assassin X]

I think even with the poor the most forgotten "class" if they are called that here in the US are the Homeless. Can anyone recall the last time they even thought of one or something along those lines BEFORE I brought it up? Probably been awhile right? Years maybe. Unless you live in Cali probably or a giant city.

Most people have the assumption homeless are homeless because they are useless, lazy drunks. Which while half the time is true that is not the case the other half of the time.

My dad being a christian (always trying to do good for people) would pick up bums from Cleveland and the surrounding cities and get them food, blanket, clothes...etc if they needed it or just a ride if that was all they wanted. He id it for about 10 years when I was real young. Stop at mcdonalds all the time with them. We never cared if they were dirty as heck or smelled like piss. They are still human.

Alot of them had reasons for being homeless. ALOT at that time were war vets that had just... well... lost it from the war. Of course a few were drunks. 1 or 2 were had mental disorders. One of the last guys we met had his 8 year old son with him. His wife died who had a job and they lost everything and were on the streets because they couldn't get help. They had been on the streets for about a month. We found them a shelter through a local church and a family to stay with later.

My dad is so nice the people that would try to lie eventually told him the truth... why they were really homeless, even if it was they were wife beaters, cons...etc. Something about my dad. My dad never shunned them. And they really liked him for that. Some like this one guy who had a really bad mental disorder insisted on living on the streets showed us where his parents live. His parents were so glad we brought him home because he just won't stay in their house. We got to know them but sadly a few weeks later someone picked him up a killed him just for a few bucks he had on him. Lame.

My point? Does anyone else care about he homeless? The least talked about people? I am sure you see them at some point. Offer to buy them a coffee. Heck bring one to them. It will mean alot. It will mean even more if you just talk to them for 5 minutes. You can't give them the world but you can give them the dignity that they exist. Wouldn't you want it if you might die on the streets and were treated as an equal to a rat?

[Nu Kua]

I do care about the homeless. The things I do to help are also very direct. I met a woman who was homeless a couple of winters ago. She has a slight mental issue as well as physical health issues. She stayed in a shelter for nights, and M-F there was a day program she could go to hang out, spend time, get out of the rain. (We have months and months of cold rain around here.) Anyway weekends she had nowhere to go during the days but you have to be out of the shelter by 7 am. So I took to picking her up weekend mornings and she'd come hang out with us.
Over the course of time she became very sick with pneumonia, so I took her to the hospital and visited everyday until she got out. I also took the time to make sure she still had her bed at the shelter- if a person didn't report in one night by 5 they lost their bed. So there was some paperwork to fill out, people to negotiate with.
So finally she recovered. She had a disability hearing she had to go to but didn't have a way, so I took her there, and back again. This woman is someone who actually deserves disability. She had no family to help her, and she is very annoying (talks incessantly, repeating the same stuff over and over ) so she didn't have many friends as well- except for other homeless people.
I am happy to say she received her disability, and in a few weeks was able to secure a small studio for herself. She is on a fixed income- but it is enough to pay her rent, utilities, a little bit of food and her medicine. I still take her and some people she knows to the food bank once a month, to doctors appointments, grocery shopping, and once in awhile, just a ride out to the beach.

The face of the homeless in general is changing. The old stereotype of shell shocked vet turned alcoholic no longer works- families are becoming homeless at an alarming rate.
Here is a link to a good article from the CS Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0522/p09s01-coop.html
Understanding Poverty and Homelessness in America

I think that people like your Dad and you are the ones who have the right idea- if you want to help, get out there and actually help straight up, don't rely on the government to do it. There is so much we can do in small ways, that fits our lifestyle too.
Like, I have considered volunteering some weekends at the shelter, but I have a family at home and that doesn't work as well for me as giving people rides to places I am already going to be going, or going to Goodwill to buy raincoats to give to people who have no way of getting out of the weather.
You are correct, everybody can do something, if they choose, and it doesn't have to be a dramatic change in your lifestyle either. Even the kids can go to the Dollar Store and buy hats and gloves, to distribute for Yule gifts.

[Devon]

It's odd that you bring up this topic today X. I was just having a conversation about the homeless on the way here.
You're completely right.. of course they're not useless. Not all of them suffer from extremely bad hygiene and eratic behaviour. In fact, it's common to find those characteristics in people on your own street..

I can't get over the fact that right now, somebody without any shelter or proper clothing has to brace themselves for the harsh reality of winter. Somebody who hasn't 'met' the standards or foundations to own their own dwelling. I for one think this is an extremely thought provoking issue relating to the socio-economic system (there's that evil word again..heh) and it makes me cringe. This right here, is what makes certain systems look inhumain and contradictory. How does any leader wish to gain trust and respect like this?

Truth is..so many people do not care. That's it. There's a million reasons why they don't have to and that is that. I'd like to see more done.. even if it were just volunteers out there. I've always thrown down some change and had to think about it hard for the next couple blocks. It's not a good feeling to see another human being at the end of his rope.. hope fading from his eyes.

I remember when I was a little girl and I was visiting my mother's friend in Toronto. It was just me and her and she brought me along to get her haircut. She left me in the park across the street. It was a pretty big one.. had a nice big gazebo and a garden. There were pigeons everywhere and kids running around yelling. I remember she had given me a notebook and a pen to write. I wrote some lame verses and thoughts about pigeons and crazy beauty parlor ladies.
I noticed a man wandering near me.. he was drinking something. As he got closer, i realized it was listerine. I began feeling a bit anxious as the older man began to get closer to me. Eventually, he sat in the grass about 4 feet away from me. He asked me if I minded and I said I didn't. He said it was a nice day but there was nobody to talk about it with. He asked me what I was writing and I showed him. I remember he smiled.
He told me he liked it and asked if I had ever heard of Edgar Allen Poe. I said I had, and he began to recite the most beautiful poetry my little ears had ever heard. All my anxiety and discomfort melted away.
I found out he was a very smart man. Troubled, but very smart and thoughtful. He told me many details about his life and I still remember them which is very odd. I remember he explained the whole mouthwash thing.. the alcohol content kept him occupied for the time being. I just nodded my head and took it for what it was. He told me I seemed mature for my age but I don't remember saying much.. just listening. I remember he went away and came back with a flower for me. I put it in the book. He spoke of life and anguish. Of everlasting lessons. The poetry really blew me away and has still stayed with me till this day.
He eventually asked me if I'd like some time to write by myself again and I agreed. He left and I kept my head down. When I looked up again.. he was gone. For about five minutes I was childishly convinced I had been visited by an angel.. until I got up to walk to the gazebo and I saw him about 50 yards away laying on a bench. He had nowhere to go either. Why?

Anyways..it's stayed with me. No matter how much you're worth to someone..if you don't cut it as a tool to the system that can use you; you come last. No question. How wrong is that?

[Devon]

Originally Posted by Nu Kua

I think that people like your Dad and you are the ones who have the right idea- if you want to help, get out there and actually help straight up, don't rely on the government to do it. There is so much we can do in small ways, that fits our lifestyle too.
Like, I have considered volunteering some weekends at the shelter, but I have a family at home and that doesn't work as well for me as giving people rides to places I am already going to be going, or going to Goodwill to buy raincoats to give to people who have no way of getting out of the weather.
You are correct, everybody can do something, if they choose, and it doesn't have to be a dramatic change in your lifestyle either. Even the kids can go to the Dollar Store and buy hats and gloves, to distribute for Yule gifts.

True say.. i'll definitely add something like this to my list of things to do.

[Max]

Id like to say I care but I guess judging by the way I act I dont. Like most people I walk past them on the street and totally blank them out of my life, look down my nose and sneer at them when im trying to get some food in the city centre and they ask me for some, I guess im an asshole :/

[equalizer]

Originally Posted by Max

Id like to say I care but I guess judging by the way I act I dont. Like most people I walk past them on the street and totally blank them out of my life, look down my nose and sneer at them when im trying to get some food in the city centre and they ask me for some, I guess im an asshole :/

Kudos to you for being honest with your answer. I kinda ignore them on the street also. Once in a great while I will throw some change at them. I do know the city I live in has shelters and gives out food on a daily basis. I donate to charities every year just not the homeless shelters. Maybe I will start.

[medicvet]

When I was growing up, from age 11 onward (that's when my Mom met my Dad) there were sometimes people staying with us at our home. It would be a friend of theirs, or sometimes just their kids, and twice there were friends of mine staying at the house, once because her family was homeless and tenting it at the campgrounds, so I asked if she wanted to come stay with me for a while and she did. Once my friend was 17 and her mother moved to Michigan, and she wanted to stay and graduate in Ventura, so she stayed with us for about a year or so. My folks never had a lot of money..there were five of us kids (plus maybe one or two extra staying with us, like Phillip and Chad and Everett and Debbie and Kelly and Sue and Cinday and...well you get the idea, lol. My folks just had a small three bedroom one bath house but what they had they shared, especially where kids were concerned, and I can't say how proud I am that they raised me in a way that showed true Christian character. Our family attended a church that was more on the wealthy side of town, just happened that way because it was a Lutheran church, and I saw and was part of a lot of prejudice there..not from the congregation, but from the kids that were my own age in Sunday School. They weren't overtly cruel, they just acted as though I was invisible and didn't exist, since they went to the 'better' high school in town, and I didn't. So I got to also witness hypocritical Christianity as well as true Christianity, and I would find that dichotomy time and time again in my life, and it puzzled me then and still puzzles me to this day how someone can say they are one thing and act like another.

Anyway, there was a time in my life where I was 'technically' homeless, although I never had a night that I had to sleep out in the open..always at least had a shelter or motel room in the interem. And depending upon where I was living, I would sometimes be able to help out with homeless shelters and food banks, and volunteering at the food bank when I could (was sometimes hard to find a sitter for the kids, and I couldn't take them with me at a certain age because they were too young, or my son was at least, for them not to be underfoot) made me feel better and not so bad for taking some food from the foodbank home myself.

I guess it's because I have "been there done that" with the homelessness thing, and have seen it's impact in a visceral way that has left me forever touched by it, especially the sometimes deliberate cruelty of others toward the homeless. Two specific instances stand out in my mind..one was about a nice restaurant that looked out to the beach on one side, and on another side would look out in the parking lot and where their dumpster was. The homeless in that area would go to the dumpster and get food out, and I guess the restaurant thought that the homeless doing that weren't aesthetically pleasing, so they started pouring bleach on the leftover food in the dumpster so the homeless couldn't eat it...how low of a human being do you have to be, and I use the words 'human being' very loosely here, do you have to be to not even let someone who is hungry eat the trash you throw out???????

Another specific instance is how they changed the camping laws just to discourage the homeless. Before, there were certain beach campgrounds that had shower facilities, flushing toilets, and one even a tiny store that charged outrageous prices, and so if one had a tent to pitch, could stay there, and while there weren't a LOT of homeless living that way, there were always a few, particularly families, that did stay there for a few months at a time. So they changed the law that you could only spend up to two weeks at any given campground, including moving from one to another in the county, and then had to spend a week somewhre else, anywhere else, before coming back to a campsite for two weeks again. I thought that was very cruel, as when the families stayed in one spot, at the very least it was some kind of stability, better than nothing, and it had gotten so school buses would come and pick up the kids, so they didn't lose out on any school time. After the camping rules changed, it was very difficult to keep a family together, and often they would be forcibly taken from the parent or parents down on their luck and placed in a foster home..see in the eyes of dept of children services if you were homeless that automatically made you be an 'unfit parent'. That's how Cindy came to live with me, because she knew the time was coming when they were going to get her and her brothers and sisters, so my folks said she could come live with me, and good thing because only a week and a half after she did, the county came in and took her brothers and sisters away and split them up putting them in different foster homes..I think they were better off camping at the beach, personally.

Anyway, I can't do as much for the homeless these days as I would like to, due to the fact that my illness is so sporadic, and there is no schedule, rhyme, or reason for it..days or weeks will go by when I can't leave the house, then days or weeks will go by where I am nervous but can still manage it. I do write letters when I have heard of an injustice against the homeless, and I want to if nothing else, just be a voice in support of them, especially since they are so often so harshly and unfairly judged. And as Forrest said "that's about all I have to say about that".

[Smoke]

Id only care if it was equilizer, because then I might take the valueuable time out of my life to counjure up some spit and rain it down on his hair.

[Assassin X]

Homeless are things people keep locked away in their heads so they don't have to talk about them, don't have to remember them. Kind of like us gamers.... we lock away that words "outside", "exercise", "nature". Never to remember them again.

[Nu Kua]

I don't think ignoring them makes anyone an asshole. Everybody is doing their own thing.
A person would be an asshole if they were actively mean to them.

[Smoke]

I game to kill time and feed my own addictions to it..

Homeless people are genreally overlooked, I know most homeless people.. in toronto have mental illnesses.

[Nu Kua]

Originally Posted by MedicVet

Two specific instances stand out in my mind..one was about a nice restaurant that looked out to the beach on one side, and on another side would look out in the parking lot and where their dumpster was. The homeless in that area would go to the dumpster and get food out, and I guess the restaurant thought that the homeless doing that weren't aesthetically pleasing, so they started pouring bleach on the leftover food in the dumpster so the homeless couldn't eat it...

That is pretty terrible.
A lot of restaurant owners mistakenly assume that giving leftover food to the homeless is liability issue- they worry that someone will become sick and they will get sued. However the fact is that state and national Good Samaritan laws, which don’t hold restaurants liable as long as they’ve donated food in good faith, have worked. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law

Here's the actual law regarding food donations
http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/gleaning/appc.htm

There was some sort of a review in 2002, specifically looking up cases of donated food liability, and found none.

You know the owners of that restaurant you speak of could help to feed hungry people and still be total jerks, because if they found a way to advertise that they were doing it, they'd gain good standing in the community and that can never hurt a business.

[loganosborne]

Originally Posted by medicvet

one was about a nice restaurant that looked out to the beach on one side, and on another side would look out in the parking lot and where their dumpster was. The homeless in that area would go to the dumpster and get food out, and I guess the restaurant thought that the homeless doing that weren't aesthetically pleasing, so they started pouring bleach on the leftover food in the dumpster so the homeless couldn't eat it...

That's horrible. That food is only going to waste anyway. Why not just let the homeless people eat it.

Originally Posted by Nu Kua

I don't think ignoring them makes anyone an asshole. Everybody is doing their own thing.
A person would be an asshole if they were actively mean to them.

Yep I agree with that. I can't go round giving every homeless person I see money as at the end of the day I still got to make sure I have enough money to look after myself. If I could give every homeless person I saw money I would, but I can't. I do give money to them if I have a spare bit of money.

Being mean to homeless people is out of order. I watched a programme on television the other day on how a lot of homeless are attacked just because their homeless. I honestly don't know how people can do things like that.

[medicvet]

It is terrible the way the homeless and/or very poor are treated. Like the progams cnn was running a little while ago about how hospitals on 'good' sides of town would 'dump' their indigent patients on skid row. It got to be so bad that a charity that had a lunch kitchen and shelter there put up video cameras to record it. There was one patient who was taken there by taxi and still had his colostomy bag that ended up overflowing and nearly killing him before he was taken to another hospital, and one of a woman with mild dementia who was dropped off by a private hospitals ambulance...wearing nothing but her hospital robe!

And then there is those punk assed kids who would pay homeless men with mental disorders and/or drinking and drug abuse problems about 20 to 50 bucks to fight each other, and then they would videotape it and put it on the net! I would love to get my hands on those kids and take them down some dark alley filled with pissed off homeless people and let them loose there.

It is just freakin sad how some people will treat other people these days..homeless or not. :(

You know I am not the type to watch dr. phil's show, but when i googled bumfights and came up with this like third or fourth from the top, I had to see it, and i have to admit that my respect for him went up immensly when he kicked that asshole off the show.

YouTube Video

[Traveler]

The problem with being an immigrant with no connections is that you do end up homeless Every now and again. Happened to us three times. With 4 kids it was no joke but thats the breaks in life.

AT least my kids have had an interesting childhood and know exactly what to do if it ever happens to them. Normally you get some warning that everything is about to go up to shit and you have a bit of time to prepare. I read my kids the Lord of the rings a a bed time story and got them all in the mood for an adventure. They loved it but it was me that struggled through it, just getting a bit old to be going through these kinds of things.

We are well prepared for this kind of thing now and have all the back up equipment etc, but its still a hack. The actual homeless part is not the problem, you can always make a plan of some sort, Its the physiological part that you battle with.

But the worst part is that you still have bills like car insurance. You soon learn that the cops are not public servants, they are in reality revenue collectors for big business and operate by means of extortion.

[Ningishiddza]

Originally Posted by equalizer

I donate to charities every year just not the homeless shelters. Maybe I will start.

Great. Thousands of people out there are doing it every day, but they ain't making it. These are people who did everything society expected and asked of them, but they're still struggling every single day, and you want to fuck them and give money to a bunch a substance abusers and others who just can't handle life.

One of the last guys we met had his 8 year old son with him. His wife died who had a job and they lost everything and were on the streets because they couldn't get help. They had been on the streets for about a month. We found them a shelter through a local church and a family to stay with later.

He was probably the non-custodial parent who kidnapped his son and took unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. That's why he didn't/wouldn't go to a shelter. They would know him and call the police immediately to collect the reward. Women who kidnap their children and flee to avoid prosecution can stay in "homeless" shelters. Families in "homeless" shelters are also wanted have outstanding warrants, so they can't go to government services and get housing in 12-72 hours, lest they be arrested. I had a pretty good success rate with missing children, about 1 in 5 recovered, just by searching "homeless" shelters along the I-75/I-70/I-71 corridors.

For the guy with his 8-year old, you'd have to judge it on the merits, was he from a state like Ohio, where women always get custody, even if they're crack whore trainees or was he denied visitation? Of course the kid might have been his sex toy and not his son, you never know.

You all should watch the Ed Bradley/60 Minutes thing on the "homeless" a few years back. I didn't care much for Bradley, but he was very aggressive in his interviewing and it turned out to be a good story that earned my respect.

It's a myth that "homeless" have mental problems. That's maybe less than 5% of all "homeless" (and one of the things Bradley was investigating and de-constructing). You can't help them, because the ACLU says so.

The "Vietnam Vet" thing is also a myth. Every study ever done, even those that attempted to skew the data, shows that Vietnam Vets are no worse off than Korean or WWII vets. Also, the VA does operate the Domiciliary system, and has done so since 1956. That's a "homeless" shelter for veterans. There are 43 facilities across the US for veterans to get treatment for PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse, job counseling and training, and shelter. If a veteran is "homeless" it's because he wants to be, not because he has to be.

Bradley interviews a guy who claims to have been "homeless" for 7 years. He asks why the guy didn't he move somewhere else to get a job, and the guy gets all indignant and Bradley seized on that ripped him a new asshole, then used that as the framework for the rest of the interviews with the "homeless." It made for some lively TV for a bit. It also proved the point that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make the horse drink.

People fail. It's a fact of life. About 10% are going to fail and you can't do anything about it. On the other hand, there are the people who are doing it the right way, but it isn't working for them. Those are the people who need your help, not the ones whose goal is to skate for the rest of their lives.

[Assassin X]

I hate when "higher up" people say they care but when you see them they treat the homeless like crap. Like in NY you'll see police come to a "fancy" hotel because the manager doesn't want the homeless sitting near the warm vents. Lame. Gee sorry I don't want to die from the... you know....FREEZING COLD. Didn't know this vent was reserved for the rich.

Here in Cleveland, at least not long ago the homeless are given rules... yes rules. No sleeping in doorways. Basically no beginning, no making themselves a nuisance... as in "Don't be seen".... or as I call it "Go curl up and die you scum". Yet as a city Cleveland whines about how poor it is and what not. Don't cry for help when the poorest you give rules because it scars your already crappy rep.

[MetalMilitia]

2.4 Trillion for the war, but not a penny more for the poor

Sad state of affairs when you can fund that, but still see sick/homeless on the streets.

[medicvet]

Yes we do treat our homeless horribly. And I don't care what you say, Ning, I have known quite a few homeless personally and the MAJORITY of them had mental health issues. Of course it doesn't help that people come to California so they don't freeze to death in the winter, so I do think that California has a higher homelessness rate because of that. In Ventura, by the mouth of the river where it goes into the ocean, and across the railroad tracks is a place called 'hobo jungle'. The police will periodically go there, and 'shoo' people away, and they have a 'legitimate' reason for doing so because thay made that area into a 'wildlife preserve' for the SOLE purpose of being ABLE to kick the homeless out..it was very politically motivated and I was living in Ventura about the time it was going on. And if the people weren't there when the cops came, they would take their tents and sleeping bags and personal belongings, and confiscate them so when the homeless person came back he/she had NOTHING left..I thought it was immensely cruel to take what very little a homeless person has. In Ventura and Santa Barbara these cities are very 'down' on the homeless and try to periodically 'shift' them away from the beaches, sometimes even going so far as to buy them a greyhound ticket to L.A., and then telling the homeless persona they can either get on the bus or go to jail for 'loitering'. I don't live in California anymore, but from what my family that lives there said it is still the same.

I was very lucky in that the period of time I was in a shelter and then at a room at the YWCA I didn't have my kids, but we have had to live in some not so good places because they were all I could afford, and I tried to make things 'adventurous' for my kids too..like when we lived in Sacremento and I didn't have class that day (was attending CSUS) would take my kids on a Saturday or after school/daycare on a bus ride, and we would go to different parks and playgrounds we would see while riding on the bus and it was fun 'exploing' the city, and would have a few sandwiches/Fruit with us and have a picnic. It's interesting how I hear about Lord of the Rings being read to kids..I read the Chronicles of Narnia to mine, and the hobbit, but never actually did 'lord of the rings', but at least my daughter likes to read on her own, even if it is only "harry potter' books, lol!

It really gets to me when I see or hear about people being needlessly cruel to the homeless, and it will be one of the few things that REALLY pisses me off to no end. Like when Atlanta had the Olympics there, they made it a really big deal to get rid of all their homeless in the downtown or wherever 'tourists' would be, and they made them leave the city (again with one way greyhound tickets) or go to jail.

I have had a woman with two kids stay with us until she came up on the housing list, because she had been in a shelter the maximum amount of time, and if she couldn't stay there or anywhere they were going to take her kids away if they got completely homeless for being an 'unfit parent'. I was at the food bank when I heard about it, and I didn't have a running car and she didn't have a place, so we traded off..she got a room for her and the kids and I got to drive her car for a while..she ended up getting into public housing on a priority, and sold me the car at a big discount when she moved into it.

It is so damn easy to get behind when you live check to check, and any little thing can upset the precarious balance the poor have. One thing I remember that totally infuriated me was when I was channel surfing and saw "O'Reilly factor" and he was talking about how he thought it was wrong for homeless to be lying down on church steps when he was trying to get him and his daughter into services, and how he didn't think the church should be helping the homeless there because they were bringing down the price of real estate by urinating at different places (because no place around there would let them just come in to use facilities, even places like fast food joints that normally do. I was all like "um..O'reilly you are taking your daughter to CHURCH to learn about JESUS CHRIST who would have sympathy, empathy, and compassion for the homeless, and yet the REAL lesson he is teaching his daughter is how to be a total frickin HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!! Go to church, but step over the homeless when you do so..what a crock.

I'm going to stop now because my bp is going up and it's not good for me.

[Devon]

It goes to show what a jungle we live in.

Everyone is so convinced they are right.. that what they do is key. Passive or aggressive; it is so easy to be selfish. Some people need to pull there heads out of their asses and do a little self-reflecting. hahhaa
We've all got personal goals and ambitions..for gods sake, succeed in something for yourself. Fuck whatever bar everyone else is jumping over. Run away from that contest and find a spot to think and be content. Somewhere you can thrive and live. I hope that you all do it gracefully.
Get angry and frustrated. For that brief second of feeling absolutely superior you need to cut yourself down to your absolute minimum. A speck. An active and very much aware life-form who has soaked up and molded ancient history to fit it's comfort zone. Sub-conciously neglecting certain thoughts or feelings. Now, you can either go outside and fuck things up because your total lack of dicipline or understanding has lead you to aggravate the life of others, or you can be equally active in making change and spreading words and actions of hope, strength and integrity. If you're not willing to participate in life.. then sit down and be quiet. =]
I have no problem if one person..even a hundred people open their mouths and dirty angry scum pours out. The army of people that won't tolerate it will drown out the sound. I look forward to this day.. I really do. This is just my position. If you agree or feel positively towards this then I am sincerely happy. If not, then forget about it and move on to bigger things.
Thanks.

[medicvet]

Devon, thank you. Those are some very profound words you have posted. I have been reflecting on them for a little while now..once again, thank you.

[Devon]

I'm glad.
Reading it over hardens the notion again.. although the daily challenge of applying myself to it still exists. Not that it's much of a struggle nowadays, as i've relaxed a bit. Taking it one step at a time. I see it coming through on the outside now. Interactions with people are less stand-offish. More open, forgiving. I have many things to think about and re-arrange, and I don't believe perfection has ever been my goal, but I'd rather leave some habits behind as of now. Nothing will ever be perfect, but currently I am breathing, rather positive, and all is well.
The focus is not myself, that's not the point. I think this rant reflects the outcome of certain decisions. If anything, I would like someone to possibly relate.

that's all.

[Defiant Noquisi]

I know that place in Ventura quite well. I can also remember a few times during some of the first heavy rains where alot of the runoff that went into the river made it contaminated, I can't remember with what, and some of the homeless became quite ill. Then all the politics....."Not in my city!" Sigh

I hope most anyone that watched the Bradley piece on 60 Minutes realized that he was only able to glean "evidence and info" from a few sources, and the most sensational ones at best. There is very little account from the multitude of other shelters around the country and around the world. While it may be true in many places that quite a few of the clients are chemically addicted, many of them suffer from mental illness as well and are incapable of work in any setting. There is not one damn shred of evidence from a tv program that will prove to me different. I saw the reality firsthand.

DN ~ Formerly homeless since Feb 07, mentally ill for 42 years and counting...

[medicvet]

You are 42? Now that is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, so I am hoping to reach total enlightenment by next year when I hit that age. Of course I am mentally ill too now you can see.

I remember also when there was one year that Ventura was having freezing temperatures that they had a bus pick up people from downtown..and would take them to a shelter somewhere way off in Camarillo, then ship them back downtown the next morning..I think it was right about the time I left socal that they were getting flack for accepting all people and returning them the next morning, so they were only going to allow people who would agree to sign on to a program set up to assist them in finding a home....but what mostly was ending up happening with that was that fewer homeless were qualifying to be able to sleep somewhere warm for the night..

never did find out how that turned out..do you know anything about that situation?

And at one point when I was living in Ventura county had gotten into a huge fight with my folks, and it ended up that my kids could stay with them but I couldn't so was 'technically' homeless for about two weeks until catholic charities helped me out with a deposit for an apt for my kids and I.

Also, was homeless earlier this year because my parents moved back into the house I was renting from them and are trying to sell the other place that they were living in about 20 some miles away, so I had to move out, again, because my folks and I weren't getting along, my son could stay (daughter already in college this time) but I couldn't, and ended up spending two and a half weeks in a cheap hotel..this time it really hurt because I was in an inpatient ptsd program in baltimore, md, and was told to leave about 5 weeks in the 8 week program because they said I was overmedicated. I was only taking the medications that had been prescribed to me by the VA hospital in muskogee, and told them that I wanted to stay and they could simply tell me what meds not to take and they wouldn't, but they said no I had to go, and I begged them to let me go to the psych ward there in baltimore and get my meds the way they wanted them, but they said no I had to return to muskogee and they wouldn't see me at all in baltimore until I did that..was seriously fucked up, and another reason it ticked me off so much to read Ning saying that there were virtually no homeless mentally ill vets, because I damn near became one..if my parents hadn't paid for the flight home, I still would have been stuck in Baltimore, with no where to live! And I always used to wonder why there were so many homeless in downtown Baltimore by the VA..now I know..there were instances when they refused treatment to veterans who needed it, because it happened to me!