a twin mattress & a loaf of bread
Okay, I know it's blurry. If he comes back tonight, and he's bound to since hes' been there for 4 days, I'll try to get a better shot. This is the street person who has made a camp next to our building. He's moved from the canopy of trees to the dumpster. He had a twin sized mattress but he must have soiled it badly because it is now in the dumpster and he has some cardboard boxes, maybe they travel better.
It's a well published fact that a great percentage of the homeless are either drug/alcohol addicted or psychotic. Also a documented fact, nearly all street people have been offered help but haven't taken it. I feel badly for the street people, I write my check to comic relief and other organizations, but I honestly don't want them camping on my lawn and pissing in my bushes. That sounds horrible I realize, but the truth is not always pretty. Seeing a grown man, filthy and infested and realizing that he has nothing but a loaf of bread and some boxes or a twin sized mattress that he dragged off the street or out of a dumpster disgusts me on more than one level. The co-dependent nurse in me wants to take him some hot chocolate and a sandwich, let him use the shower; the practical side of me knows if I do he will never leave and may grow so bold as to knock at my door on a regular basis. Someone out there is thinking it...I'm a terrible person for viewing him this way. Well, it's how I feel, can't avoid the truth, it's bugging me to have a strange dirty man camping in my space. I'm sure there is someone I could call, I just can't bring myself to do it.
posted by Under A Blackened Sky @ 3:35 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Oh, man! I feel bad for him..I thought he found a better place to stay, but it looks like he's back. I know what you mean about how you feel..I feel the same way. My father was like him at one point...out on the street, never knowing where he was or if he was eating...if someone had shot him or hurt him or arrested him...it's hard for me to watch, too. Still, you're right...there is only so much we can do before it becomes detrimental to ourselves.
u should pick up the book Out of the Shadows : Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis by e. fuller torrey It gives an awesome account of what is going on in our society. What made me think of it for this post is because one of the first sections describes the corilation between the severely mentaly ill and the surge of homeless that we are seeing now. I was always really conflicted on how to view the homeless and this book made it easier for me to wrap my mind around the whole issue. The book is really great! :)
Post a Comment
<< Home