Lets talk about the homeless

Read the whole article, very interesting and forward thinking points were made.

I think the people arguing in this thread never bothered to read the whole article. People who post that they have the attitude to just let these homeless people die are dumb. You're worried now the homeless asking you for change, how about walking to work and seeing one laying dead out front your building. That's not an option. Ignoring a problem does not make it go away. Even if you think you are ignoring it, you end up paying for these people indirectly through health insurance.

This solution isn't perfect or easy but it's the most efficient and that's what we should be worried about. We can't let the homeless die in our streets so this is the most cost effective solution.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, the amount of change – and acceptance – that would have to be realized by the ordinary American citizen to ending the homeless problem would, to me, be immeasurable.  This seems like a problem that will always face naysayers and people who are not going to support it.  Like the article pointed out the Mayor of Denver would get stopped going into the grocery store and people would tell him, “I can't believe you're going to help those homeless people, those bums.” That statement seems to sum up most American’s mindsets, the homeless simply can be written off as bums or pan-handlers or just someone not worth the time of day.

I admit I used to not be in favor of supporting the homeless – I felt they put themselves in there position they should get themselves out of it, it wasn’t my duty to help them.  I used to have many rash ideas about people in general when I was younger: homeless, alcoholic, drug addicts were all the same to me which was basically useless since they allowed themselves to become and stay put in their situations.  But my mindset changed one day when I was on my way to a marketing competition with one of my college professors. We exited a freeway and while waiting for the signal to change he handed a homeless man that was asking for help via his crumpled cardboard sign (very common around freeways in Southern California) a 5 dollar bill. I asked my professor why he did that and all he said was “Tomorrow I could wake up in the same position as that man, and no matter what he uses that money for, good or bad, it’s nice to help people out when they need it.” While this might not be the most profound statement on earth, it really made me think about homeless people in a different light.  I don’t know their background, how they got here or why they haven’t moved on…but I do know that no matter what they are a person just like me who doesn’t deserve to be constantly shunned, looked down upon or disregarded.

I happened to be in downtown Reno last week and there are homeless people everywhere, but now just seeing them makes me sad honestly, not mad like it used to. I do not have the solution to homelessness, and however our country chooses to deal with it I am sure that people will always be against it, or just think the world would be a better place if all homeless people were dead, but all I could hope for is that we can finally all start seeing the homeless not as a problem, but instead as a person each of them is.