I'm sorry but I disagree with the US not giving "two shits" about the homeless. That type of attitude is more common in teenagers/adolescents, but most adults I know in the US are more than empathetic towards the homeless. In reality if I see a homeless person panhandling most of the time it doesn't bother me, but a lot of these supermarkets that have people outside panhandling for charities PISS ME THE FUCK OFF. They try to stop you right as your leaving to make you feel guilty about not donating to the spca... or breast cancer, and it makes me care that much less the way they go about it. What about me? You think I have money just cause I have a car? I'm most likely more broke than your lame fucking charity so please spare me and stop with the guilt trips. Maybe its our government that really gives 2 shits, and a government is definitely not a good way to generalize an entire country (this is what causes wars is ignorance).
Also, I think theres a pretty big difference between sober homeless people and junkie homeless people. Same way theres a difference between being sober in prison and a junkie in prison. I don't fear being homeless as much as I fear having an addiction AND being homeless. And in a weird way being homeless in this day and age is a walk on the beach compared to being homeless 10,000 years ago.
Imagine fending in the wild living only on what you are able to hunt for that day, being the prey of many much larger and dominant animals. Well in a way we still have places like that around the world, so as bad as it is to be homeless I still say US is prob one of the better/best places to be in that predicament. I mean would you rather be homeless in Brazil? .. or Iraq?
Some more thoughts on homelessness.
I'm seeing vast extremes on either side about the homeless in general. People like georgie25 saying most homeless live fullfilling lives, and people like firebrand saying only 3-4% are "capable" people. Those are both complete bullshit. The MAJORITY of homeless are "capable" people. Get them off drugs/alcohol, if they have mental disorders put them in a ward for treatment. The ONLY ones I truely see as "incapable" are the ones who have destroyed their brains from a lifetime of drug abuse, or the ones who suffer SERIOUS mental disorders like bipolar/schizophrenia. But for some odd reason I also don't see a shizo or someone with a severe case of bipolar being on the streets in the first place. They often get picked up by the looney van rather fast and are admitted. So I'd estimate that more than the majority are "capable".
As far as them all living fullfilling lives like georgie said thats not true for either homeless or the nonhomeless. A house doesn't "fullfill" anyones life, and to try to predict in either direction is a major mistake in judgement. A person living in a mansion can lack fullfillment (or have an abundance of) equally as someone living on the streets... or in prison. Yet I still think georgies statements were JUST AS right/wrong as yours firebrand. You're right about education, but the "driven/capable" part was just as nonsensical as georgie saying most of them live fullfilling lives. Just because they don't act driven doesn't mean they aren't driven. And because so many of them are on drugs/alcohol you have no idea how driven/capable they are untill they get off that shit in the first place.
And as far as american being "economically driven", if thats the way we are, why are we like 5 trillion dollars in debt? You would think a place that cared so much about money would actually have some for themselves.
Also, about americans "slaving away" to the workforce PLEASE WTF. If you are a junkie you are SLAVING AWAY equally to your DOC. If you are homeless you are SLAVING AWAY just to live another day. SLAVING AWAY is the natural human condition, aka "survival" its just a gross view to uphold about people who are actually working and doing what they "should".
Either way, there are PLENTY OF PEOPLE who work like that because they are NOT junkies, and have decided there are things in life to be more passionate about than aimlessly traveling the world or getting high all the time. I'm just seeing people saying that the working class needs to be more openminded acceptable of homeless/junkies but it doesn't look like many of you are trying to be openminded about the working class. This is NOT a one way street.
The fact is we are ALL just in different predicaments in life, whether your on drugs, off drugs, have a home, don't have a home, have a mental disorder, don't have a mental disorder, NO MATTER WHAT, its human nature to examine other peoples differences in a way to validate your own existence. But when you always need to validate your existence that tells me that you are a deeply troubled individual.
My "objective" view is that most people don't care that much either way. When I see a homeless person I don't go off in my mind like "what a horrible undriven pos", I think "hmm, looks like it would suck to be that way, but I don't know what that person is thinking or how they got in that position so WHO THE HELL AM I to judge them?" I think most people somewhat understand this fact on some level. You may not consciously see us all as having more similarities than differences, but I think deep down most people CAN feel that we are all just human, and much more alike than we'd like to believe.
I have no idea why I'm ranting about this now, and its most likely off topic, but if you truely don't like your life THAT MUCH (whether homeless or not) most people WILL find a way to change their situations. Thats why whether you have a home or not, it really doesn't effect me too much either way.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
