my two cents
I jumped into this thread while reading the original 'help' topic. Had to throw in my 2 cents....
We're all pretty lucky to be sitting in our warm homes on our computer discussing this issue. This tells me several things.
1 - we have the capabilities to have and maintain a home - many people don't have those capabilities (ie common sense, life skills, financial sense, etc).
2 - we are all literate - many people on the street are NOT functionally literate. Remember those kids in the 'special classes' that ended up dropping out of school? They may be part of the homeless in any city across Canada. Hard to get, and keep, a job when you can't read or write.
3 - we have the luxury of not only covering our basic needs (ie shelter, food, clothing), but we have toys, too! As in the computers we are using to have this discussion. This means we have computer skills. We were not born with this, and not everyone has them. Think back to the time you had to learn how to turn a computer ON. Now think how you would function in society if you'd dropped out of school, couldn't read or write, and had never used a computer before.
Throw in a history of something like childhood abuse, and your prospects dwindle to nothing...
As for addictions - any of you tried to quit smoking cigarettes? Imagine if that addiction caused you to live on the streets? Ie if you smoked, you didn't work or have a home. Be thankful that you don't have the addictions that could waste your life. We have been blessed, and we should not knock those who have not been so blessed....
I work downtown, and know you can't lump 'the homeless' into one category. There are those who choose to panhandle because they make good money. There are those who are hopelessy addicted, and cannot function in our society. There are those who are mentally ill and thanks to King Ralph's health care cuts, have no beds in an institution that would care for them. Anyone who uses the Plus 15s would recognize a few people from that last category - they walk the Plus 15s all day and you KNOW they should be institutionalized.
As I said - it's wonderful that we can sit in our warm homes, on our fancy computers, and discuss this issue...my two cents.
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