Homeless bum! Why does he choose that life? This common gut-reaction comes from not knowing what actually puts people on the streets. The Assn. of Bay Area Governments cited four major causes of homelessness: chronic drug/alcohol abuse (33%), serious mental illness (22%), domestic violence (18%), and youth (14% under age 18). People get caught up in circumstances they can’t control and didn’t set out to be in. No, we can’t magically solve the complex problem of homelessness, but we can change our mind-set. From our new perspective grows a different way of talking to others about the problem, thus changing their attitudes, as well–plus a new way of treating homeless people we encounter (warning: it will be harder to ignore them). Contact an organization dealing with any of the root causes and, along with others who have had an “attitude transplant,” work toward reuniting our homeless brothers and sisters with the rest of our human family.
Tag Archive for streets
In Poverty? It’s Your Own Fault
I’m mad, horrified, disgusted, and a lot more. As you regular readers know, my Thursday Thoughts quotes are normally positive in themselves or from well-known people who give suggestions on how to improve our world. Today, though, I just need to vent.
The U.S. (I won’t call him “our”) Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson, said this in an interview earlier this week:
“I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there. And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you could give them everything in the world, they’ll work their way right back down to the bottom.” He went on to say that poverty is the result of lack of determination and proper parenting.
Mr. Secretary, tell that to the mother on the streets because she had nothing left after her divorce and, as a stay-at-home mom, no job skills or experience. Or to the veteran with PTSD and only minimal access to VA services. Or the mentally or physically disabled person with no insurance and able–maybe–to get only a table-cleaning job at a fast-food place at non-livable wages.
As I said, I’m mad, horrified, disgusted, and a lot more.