Homeless Man and ‘Spaz’ by ~tampopou on deviantART
for anyone that might be reading this, who is not from the san francisco bay area, i humbly suggest that you take the time to look at the articles and pictures in this series the chronicle has been running focused on the cities homeless.
i don’t make this suggestion in hopes that we can cure the countries homeless problem. i am not suggesting that you read this in order to touch your heart, causing you to donate to the homeless, or volunteer in their service…i wouldn’t ask this of you,, as i wouldn’t ask this of myself.
rather, i am bringing this subject up merely as a way of bringing to light that any one of us,, can at any time, without mental illness, moral depravity, or a massive drug habit,, become homeless. realistically,, how many paychecks away from the street are you right now???
i am one. one check, and one generous elderly man i choose only to call , my benefactor…
lets face it.. i am 3500 miles from “home”… i have two large breed dogs, that i have made a lifetime commitment to, i work at a deli making $12.00 an hour. i do not use drugs, i seldom drink, i do not have a vast accumulation of personal possessions…i have no credit cards, no debt….and at any moment, if i were to become even temporarily incapacitated, by accident or illness,,,or lose the home that has been so graciously provided for me by my benefactor… i would in fact join the ranks of the areas homeless….
and i realize, i am one of the lucky ones….i have someone to help me… i am not alone…
currently the nation is facing a huge problem, due to increased housing costs, failure of the prime rate, balloon mortgages, foreclosures…etc….how many families,,, families of working people, who don’t do drugs and are not mentally ill or physically incapacitated are essentially being turned out into the streets,,,will it take before this personally effects you???
and when it does, how will you react?? the same way you do when i ask you to look at the lives that are chronicled in the above series of articles??? blow it off.. get something to eat….read another blog…
and lets just say ,, that those families are not forced into the street… but rather are into housing they can actually afford??? where,, as a nation,, have we provided that housing??? is it down the street from you?? is it in your backyard??? i think not.
chances are the affordable housing will be in an area that is riddled with all of the things those people bought that expensive house, in that “good neighborhood”, in order to avoid…
homeless people,, gangs, crime, violence, drug use, prostitution,,not to mention inadequate school systems….over burdened law enforcement agencies…
meanwhile……….
millions of dollars are being spent, as i type this,, to save the habitat of a rare green salamander…
http://www.teaming.com/news_articles_from_states/NC_111.doc.
not to mention the billions that are being spent to fund research to uphold the theory of global warming...
http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=284
i don’t even need to go there do i???
we have become a nation of control freaks…everyone is so intent on controlling things that are so far from their realm… that until a catastrophe of such epic proportion that it can no longer be glazed over, {as someone elses mistake}…comes head long into your very own home…we will continue to appease ourselves with saving the planet…endangered species..”native” plants,, second hand smoke,, “humanely” slaughtered meats……
i guess my point here is,,, that yeah,, saving the planet should be a no brainer on our list of priorities,, and i have nothing against the green salamander,, or any other endangered species…
but until i,, and the millions of people like me,, like you,, feel secure in the fact that we will be able to maintain a roof over our heads ,, adequate food and clothing,, have some kind of health care,, and do not live day to day knowing we are one paycheck away from being in the street with two dogs and a shopping cart…
don’t even talk to me about that shit…..
April 15th, 2007 at 9:43 am
here, here!