Homeless People

[Yrth]

**edit: For everyone reading this who feels an obligation to vomit their indignation all over the place, I invite you to take this "fuck you" from me and reflect on what you really think you can contribute to this thread as a whole. But still - fuck you. /*

 

Alright, here it is: I've never given a shit about homeless people. As a Christian or a non-Christian, I just do not care. I think about this, & I worry about what I am. Shit, I'm sorry, I'm such a good liar that I can even fool myself if I write something that sounds 'correct.' Let me try again: I think about this, & I do not worry about what I am, but I am mildly curious about what it makes me. Och, I'm so fucked up.

 

I have this theory. When I was a Christian, I put 'being a Christian'(headfirst faith) on hold at an early age until I could be sure it's what I agreed with. So, eheh, in the early years I learned to mimic everything while actually rethinking shit. So, not only did I make a good liar, but I didn't capitalize on any of the better parts of being a Christian either, for instance learning how to care about people less fortunate than you, ie. the homeless. Idk if that makes sense, I just know that if I'm going to be completely honest then I'm going to have to admit that one of the winter's many silver linings is how it can really clean up the streets.. :/

 

Am I anomie? Deranged? Ill? Hardly. Read my extimony, my life is pretty normal, and just ftr I don't kill small cuddly animals.

 

This is a part from The Departed that kinda gets to what I'm talking about by being prone to lying to myself. Billy Costigan is seeing his court-ordered psychiatrist:

 

BILLY

(abruptly) There was a cop leaving when I came in.

 

MADOLYN

How do you know he was a cop?

 

BILLY

Bad haircut, no dress sense and a slight air of scumbag entitlement. You see cops?

 

MADOLYN

That's part of what I do. Although, I don't normally see cadets who were kicked out of the Academy.

 

BILLY

You should get a better job...

 

BILLY (CONT'D)

Do they all come in and cry...your cops?

 

MADOLYN

Sometimes they cry if they had trouble at home or if they've had to...use their weapons.

 

BILLY

Let me tell you something. They signed up to use their fuckin' weapons. Most of them. But they watch enough TV so they know they have to "weep" after they use their weapons. No one's more full of shit than a cop. Except a cop on TV.

[florduh]

Some people are just devoid of empathy and the capacity for sympathy. A self-centered view is all they can muster. Usually, these are Republicans.

[Yrth]

I'm not either of those things. In fact, I'm often accused of being overly sensitive! But I am a Republican -- but only because that's what I signed up as when I registered to vote. Idk what I am politically.

[Vigile]

So why the need to advertise your lack of empathy for the plight of others?

[orlando]

I don't think anyone should need religious teachings to feel a bit of sympathy for people in unfortunate circumstances.

 

I'm not sure what you are hoping for people to say: yes, you should have focussed more on those bits of Christianity while you were in the faith and you would have developed more empathy? maybe: Christians are just pretending, no one really cares about other people's misfortunes?

 

I don't agonise about the homeless all the time -- I think it is inevitable we are more directly upset about things happening to us or those close to us -- but I do feel sorry for them if I see them on the street sleeping in doorways and stuff, have occasionally talked to them or given money or bought a magazine (if they are selling The Big Issue - in the UK this is a scheme where some homeless people can make some money from selling a publication).

 

And what does the statement about winter clearing up the streets mean?! That they die from cold and so don't clutter up the street anymore?! You say you are sensitive, but I don't know what the answer is to your lack of empathy. Maybe try volunteering for a charity or something and see if you discover some?

[Yrth]

Vigile -- I suppose I'm just trying to feel things out as an ex-Christian. For me, what happens is that I often get tripped up over what I know I should say/think and what I actually think. The homeless are just there, every day on my way to work, and when I was a Christian people would go huge lengths to justify walking by 'without even looking at them.' I guess I'm looking for validation for the fact that I don't gush tears every time I pass the drunken asshole blocking the ATM -- as I was expected to. Does that make any more sense?

[R. S. Martin]

Vigile -- I suppose I'm just trying to feel things out as an ex-Christian. For me, what happens is that I often get tripped up over what I know I should say/think and what I actually think. The homeless are just there, every day on my way to work, and when I was a Christian people would go huge lengths to justify walking by 'without even looking at them.' I guess I'm looking for validation for the fact that I don't gush tears every time I pass the drunken asshole blocking the ATM -- as I was expected to. Does that make any more sense?

 

Thanks for this post, pockets. It sounds like the most genuine you have written so far in this thread. I value honesty and genuineness. Be who you are, be true to yourself, no matter what others think. That is my "rule of life." I think there's a middle road between "gushing tears" and "walking by them 'without even looking at them.'" The latter makes them feel like they don't count as human beings. The first might make them feel embarrassed, or it may make some feel like taking advantage of you. I really don't know. Desperate poverty can do things to people.

 

I think orlano provides an example of a "middle road" or how to use moderation in response to the homeless.

 

I don't agonise about the homeless all the time -- I think it is inevitable we are more directly upset about things happening to us or those close to us -- but I do feel sorry for them if I see them on the street sleeping in doorways and stuff, have occasionally talked to them or given money or bought a magazine (if they are selling The Big Issue - in the UK this is a scheme where some homeless people can make some money from selling a publication).

[The-Captain]

Well at least you are honest about it. I suppose there wouldn't be homeless people if everyone really cared.

[par4dcourse]

I can say with almost complete certainty that the homeless don't give a shit about you

[florduh]

I hate it when those homeless fucks die and I have to step over the body on my way to Starbucks. If they're feeling sick enough to die they should go somewhere that it won't inconvenience me if they croak. And their fuckin' kids - don't get me started!

[The-Captain]

Do you actually know any homeless people? Or do they just exist as some demographic you're supposed to care about, along with starving brown people et al. Maybe if you got out there and met people on an individual basis you'd learn some empathy. Being homeless isn't a defining characteristic for most, its just a circumstance. So yeah if you think you're supposed to go around feeling sympathy for imaginary "less fortunates" I can see why it isn't working for you.

[Japedo]

Many of the Homeless are Vets, Sad very few give two shits about them after they've joined the service and served. Yet Another glaring example of the Pro-American mantra is just feel good words by those who feel the need to wrap themselves in a flag.

 

Homeless Veterans by the Numbers Link

 

Surge Seen in Number of Homeless Veterans Link

 

Homelessness High Among Veterans Link

 

 

 

I think homelessness (no matter what the cause), hunger, war are egregious high crimes against Humanity, I'm frankly horrified by people who can't even lift a care, forget a hand.

[Yrth]

No, I don't know any homeless people. They do exist as a demographic that I'm supposed to care about, like The Hungry, The Poor, The Lonely, The Sick, etc., but they also exist as other people on the street in my day to day. I'm almost positive that you're right -- if I actually got to know someone who is homeless I might start to empathize beyond the current 'Oh right, I'm supposed to care about that.' But why should I? I pass thousands of people in a given week. Am I supposed to get to know them, too? Start actually caring about all human pain in existence until I'm a dry husk? If that's what's right, then morality really is a 'peculiar institution.'

 

I have to live honestly or I'm going to begin dwelling with permanent lies. And the truth of the matter is that I just cannot care in the .5 seconds they're in my pov without, well, experiencing severe cognitive dissonance.

[PandaPirate]

They have a name for those who lack empathy for others and have no remorse for their feelings or actions. It's called

a Sociopath. I honestly believe your post reflects a need for attention and you may need to seek psychological help.

 

Also, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they write and from what I read in your post, you're a very confused young person.

 

How can you be sure you might not end up homeless one day? A plane could crash into your house or a tornado or any natural disaster. I bet you'd change your tune real quick then, wouldn't you sport?

[par4dcourse]

...snip...

How can you be sure you might not end up homeless one day? A plane could crash into your house or a tornado or any natural disaster. I bet you'd change your tune real quick then, wouldn't you sport?

True that. I've been waaay too close too many times myself.

Edited to add: thanks PP for the siggie idea. I've had Hunter on my siggie for a while but you gave me the idea of adding a pic.

[SWIM]

I also suspect all the people homeless per katrina, were just bums, and not worthy of sympathy either... How dare they breath our air?

[The-Captain]

I have to live honestly or I'm going to begin dwelling with permanent lies. And the truth of the matter is that I just cannot care in the .5 seconds they're in my pov without, well, experiencing severe cognitive dissonance.

 

Its an uncomfortable fact that a lot of comfortably living people manage to dodge every day. You're just one person though, I wouldn't recommend trying to care about all human suffering. Deal with things on a case by case basis, be kind to the people you encounter. Try working for the Red Cross, they always need volunteers, you'll meet some people in varying situations, get to help them a bit and put a human face on the troubles of others.

 

I don't think this guy is a sociopath, just honest with himself. Let off a bit with the character attacks eh?

[Yrth]

They have a name for those who lack empathy for others and have no remorse for their feelings or actions. It's called

a Sociopath. I honestly believe your post reflects a need for attention and you may need to seek psychological help.

 

Also, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they write and from what I read in your post, you're a very confused young person.

 

How can you be sure you might not end up homeless one day? A plane could crash into your house or a tornado or any natural disaster. I bet you'd change your tune real quick then, wouldn't you sport?

 

Hey now, be at ease. I lack neither empathy or remorse, so just calm down & quit suggesting I'm a sociopath. Which is worse: someone who, passing a homeless person, doesn't give it a second thought, or someone who thinks 'Aww, that's so sad. Damn, life is mean,' and then keeps on walking towards wherever? At least when I care about stuff it goes all the way down as opposed to the mimed sympathy people know they ought to be offering. Its exactly as TheDoc said: if everyone really cared, there would be no homeless. I have the normal attitude, or at least something not unrelated to it, it's just that I'm being caustic & frank about it.

 

What can I say other than that I hope that never happens to me. If I start seeing a giant rabbit in the mirror, I'll let you know what I think.

[Jeff H]

I don't think that it's necessarily a horrible thing that you don't seem to care about the homeless. There are plenty of problems in this world we live in, and a person can't possibly have the empathy/finances to spread over them all. Pockets, is there a cause that you do care about? Are you torn about the poverty in developing nations, or about the ravaging effects of AIDS in African orphans? Are you concerned about the mentally ill, or about the elderly?

 

If you have a cause to fight for, then you certainly have my support. We can't all possibly care about everything, or we'd truly be an emotional wreck. But we can at least care deeply about one or two things. If you have a cause like this, then I think that's great. If you have nothing like this you can put your foot down, perhaps it's time to think about finding one. Perhaps something like the homeless...

[Spiderwire]

For me, what happens is that I often get tripped up over what I know I should say/think and what I actually think. The homeless are just there, every day on my way to work, and when I was a Christian people would go huge lengths to justify walking by 'without even looking at them.' I guess I'm looking for validation for the fact that I don't gush tears every time I pass the drunken asshole blocking the ATM -- as I was expected to. Does that make any more sense?

 

Well, it makes sense to me - especially the remarks about being confused about what you should think and what you actually think and maybe how the differences between the two cause conflict. I think that's everyone, really. There are plenty of things I'm absolutely convinced that I should be doing, yet I expend nearly zero effort in doing so many of them. I was that way before I was a believer, certainly that way as a believer, and I'm still the same way now that I'm not a believer.

 

Maybe today you don't feel anything for them. Okay, so that's cool. Tomorrow you might. One never knows. Maybe some things are better left unsaid. There's no trouble that way. I wouldn't feel too terrible about not giving a shit about the poor, because after all, Jesus certainly had his moments when he damn sure didn't give a shit about them.

 

"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always." Mark 14:4-7

 

See? You're actually Christ-like!

[pitchu]

It's a word, "homeless." You can't have empathy for a word, or for an abstract circumstance. But imagine (as if you were a writer of fiction) a certain person of your mind's manufacture who is daily and nightly experiencing, for reasons unique to him or her, all the specific physical and psychological degradations of that circumstance, and something may connect.

 

For instance, try a sixteen-year-old boy or girl, kicked out of the house for announcing s/he's gay, couch surfing among friends for awhile until the charity of the friends' parents is all used up... and...

[decafaholic]

Personally, I admire Pockets' honesty.

 

Also, I worked with a street ministry in Dallas and we talked to homeless people and offered to buy them food. Almost every weekend for two semesters. That experience actually caused me to feel less sympathy for homeless people. To quote a dallas resident, " A homeless person is just another name for a drug addict." That was my experience. In the 6 months we offered to buy people food, only 2 ever took us up on it. The rest just wanted money and it's not a good idea to give them money because it usually goes to drugs/alcohol.

 

However, there is a homeless shelter in my state that I would like to volunteer at. It's a center for the working homeless. They provide child care, shelter, food and help finding jobs. Residents have to hold a job to stay there. I think it's a great idea.

[pitchu]

To quote a dallas resident, " A homeless person is just another name for a drug addict." That was my experience.

 

http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/h..._by_the_numbers

 

26 Percent of the homeless population struggle with substance abuse.

 

The relationship between homelessness and alcohol and drug abuse is a controversial one. Most people do not become homeless because of their addiction. Rather, addiction issues often arise while people are experiencing homelessness.

[bolding mine]

 

I can guarantee that if I had no alternative but to try to survive on the streets I'd be pouring, popping or shooting something into myself at any and every opportunity.

[I Broke Free]

I found that once I left San Francisco eight years ago my sympathy for the homeless has improved. While I lived in San Francisco I actually had to deal with the homeless everyday and it begins to wear on you. I am not proud of this, but once when a homeless man would not take no for an answer (he was asking for money over and over and I kept ignoring him) I turned on him and in a very loud voice screamed “I am under no obligation to acknowledge your existence.” I know, it was a really weird thing to say. But in a way I think I expressed the feelings of many. You just get to the point where your sympathy is exhausted.

[Vomit Comet]

I can guarantee that if I had no alternative but to try to survive on the streets I'd be pouring, popping or shooting something into myself at any and every opportunity.

 

A lot of guys turn to the drink because it's the only way you can fall asleep on the sidewalk with ants crawling on you and shit. My dad would always say to them "go to the mission, they'll feed you."

 

Not in Las Vegas, though. The one soup kitchen in town turns away 2/3 of everyone and the mayor thinks the bums should be rounded up and put in an abandoned state prison 90 miles outside of town. "Hey, at least they'll have air conditioning" was one of his justifications. Oscar Goodman... he played himself in the movie Casino... what does that tell ya?