Reply #52: as someone who has been homeless and befriended many of them

[mark414]

all over this country, both addicts and not, i can say without hesitation that nearly everything that is being done in this country to help the homeless is absolutely wrong.

much too often people take a parent/child approach to the homeless - "oh you poor little thing, i'm gonna come in here and help you and save you!"

it is completely the wrong approach to take. most of the people i know WANT help, and they WANT to get off the streets, but then they go to shelters, to places that are supposed to help them and they get shuffled around, talked down to, treated like ignorant children and they say fuck it, i have too much pride to be treated like this, i'll take the streets over THIS shit. and i've had that experience myself.

i could write pages and pages or talk for hours about this, though i will readily admit that ultimately I DON'T KNOW the answer. someone above said that every individual is just that, and it takes something different for each and every person.

ultimately i just hope that we can figure something out soon...because the numbers are growing.