The Homeless: is it better to help them or not?

[MissMai]

Homelessness is a problem, no matter where you live. Everyone deserves a home, but I view actually helping them as a bad thing. While I lived in Alaska, people warned me not to give them money, because they would just use it to buy alcohol. So I tried giving a guy some food (I had bought a couple of sandwiches to pass out), but all he did was sell it to another homeless person who was begging on the street corner and then used that new money to buy alcohol. It was a rude awakening for me, a person raised as a Shinto-Buddhist, and taught always to help others, to observe these self-destructive habits. It tears me apart to see a person's good will squandered liked that, and it actually makes me a little angry too.

If they are so dead set on ruining themselves, do they deserve our help?

I think that any person who pursues such a self-destructive existance should be left to themselves, so they don't take the rest of us down with them, but this is at odd with the very rule by which I live my life, so it's a somewhat awkward topic for me to discuss.

What do you think?

[Butterfly Spirit]

Hn, I doubt homelessness - by which I mean the self-destructive behaviors which make it an inescapable whirlpool of sorts for some people - will ever go away, no matter how much I wish it would resolve itself. While it tugs at my heartstrings to see the disabled, the elderly, the young, Natives particularly, it's so hard to tell the mom with her children begging on a corner because she's legitimately trying to stay afloat and support them, from the mom with her children begging on a corner because she's a drunk and trying to get sympathy. So I prefer to think that the truly desperate for food will be better off finding it in a reputable shelter than from an unreliable source like motorists. I am very much in favor of supporting the homeless through moving them off the streets, both for their own good and the good of the community. However, those that prefer to drink themselves into oblivion, don't seek help, and leech off others can go and rot for all I care. They're just wasting space in a shelter that could be for someone else.

[Master Hero]

There's this awesome homeless guy where I live. Everyone calls him "Old Nigel", and he's got these really torn up jeans and a really dirty shirt, but one HELL of a nice trench coat, because some guy bought it for him to help him through the winter. He's kind of the mascot of my neighborhood. Everyone loves him, and he tells great stories.

OT: I think buying them a wash of clothes every now and then wouldn't be so bad.

[AmazingAntiAircraft]

I think buying them a wash of clothes every now and then wouldn't be so bad.

Good sir, I second your statement!

[Yossarian]

However, those that prefer to drink themselves into oblivion, don't seek help, and leech off others can go and rot for all I care. They're just wasting space in a shelter that could be for someone else.

You need to understand that a great deal, possibly even the majority of people on the streets have mental problems. I'm not being condescending. I really mean it. Often, families mistakenly try to keep relatives out of institutions, or away from therapy. They don't want to part with them, or believe that something is wrong with them. And so they sadly end up burying their problems in booze. You can guess where that leads.

[Butterfly Spirit]

However, those that prefer to drink themselves into oblivion, don't seek help, and leech off others can go and rot for all I care. They're just wasting space in a shelter that could be for someone else.

You need to understand that a great deal, possibly even the majority of people on the streets have mental problems. I'm not being condescending. I really mean it. Often, families mistakenly try to keep relatives out of institutions, or away from therapy. They don't want to part with them, or believe that something is wrong with them. And so they sadly end up burying their problems in booze. You can guess where that leads.

However, those that prefer to drink themselves into oblivion, don't seek help, and leech off others can go and rot for all I care. They're just wasting space in a shelter that could be for someone else.

You need to understand that a great deal, possibly even the majority of people on the streets have mental problems. I'm not being condescending. I really mean it. Often, families mistakenly try to keep relatives out of institutions, or away from therapy. They don't want to part with them, or believe that something is wrong with them. And so they sadly end up burying their problems in booze. You can guess where that leads.

Ah. Amazing I forgot about that. Yes, I do agree with you - but for the people who use their minor mental illness as a crutch - say, Aspergers level - I have no sympathy for them.

[Alec]

Asperger's is NOT a "minor" problem. I should know. I've been living with it my entire life. Asperger's Syndrome can result in prodigies of the highest level, and yet we generally don't pick up on ANY social cues. I had to have 15 years of social counseling to get where I am today and I still get it wrong more often than most people. If someone has Asperger's, it ain't a crutch honey. It's a real problem.

[Lady Corrington]

When I first moved to America, I helped build a shelter for homeless people. It wasn't anything fancy, just four walls and a roof with a couple of bathrooms and some small-scale heaters, but it did a lot of good in keeping the homeless from being exposed to the elements for about six years before some jerk tried to burn it down (which he half-succeeded in doing).

[Butterfly Spirit]

Asperger's is NOT a "minor" problem. I should know. I've been living with it my entire life. Asperger's Syndrome can result in prodigies of the highest level, and yet we generally don't pick up on ANY social cues. I had to have 15 years of social counseling to get where I am today and I still get it wrong more often than most people. If someone has Asperger's, it ain't a crutch honey. It's a real problem.

Well, I guess you would know more about it seeing as you have a job and doubtlessly had to work hard to get there, but when I said that I was actually thinking of myself. It does affect everyone differently, after all, and mine is less problematic.