Homeless

[AWMac]

Ditto!!!!


33
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34
Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36
naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
37
Then the righteous 16 will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
40
And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41
17 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43
a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
44
18 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
45
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
46
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

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That is what I am talking about...

If for some reason I lose my house, my job and I am on the street, would you look me into my eyes as a equal?  or...something lower to you?













Mac

[Vulcan]

Originally posted by LePaul
There's an old Vulcan proverb (well not really, but still...)

No good deed goes unpunished

Nah theres a better Vulcan proverb, homeless people make good soilant green.

[AWMac]

man sometimes life deals some bad hands...


Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Man....is kinda out the window now.  When did we lose Heart?



Mac

[Pooh21]

Originally posted by AWMac
man sometimes life deals some bad hands...


Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Man....is kinda out the window now.  When did we lose Heart?



Mac

when street trash started burning down your houses. hey if you find another homeless chick tape them fighting over $3.50. Bum Catfights! that would rock. You would be rich.

[Jackal1]

It`s pretty clear that some of the posters have some really screwed up ideas about the homeless. Sure there are some of those that are homeless and some that pretend to be homeless that are drug addicted, alcoholic and thieves, etc. , etc. There are also some lawyers, bankers, politicians and every other walk of life you can name that you can place the same tags on.
Stop and think. Just really how close are you from being homeless? If the economy or some other outside source were to shut down your job or line of work, how close are you to the edge? The average person is a lot closer to the edge than most folks realize. Take away the income due to loss of job or health situations, etc. and it takes it`s toll at a very  rapid pace.
There are a lot of folks out there, that are homeless, that those very things have happened to.  Be smug while you can because you never know how long it will last. I`d say, for the majority, with no backup,  a few months max under the right circumstances and you would be outside looking in.  
I have a neighbor that was put in this situation due to no fault of his own. He was a plumber by trade most of his life. He worked hard all of his life. He started getting really bad in the health department and didn`t know what was going on. He found that he had cancer that had attacked his intestines at a rapid pace. They opened him up like a can of sardines, then started the chemo/radiation. No work, no income. The home went first, then the rest.
When a few of us learned about it he was on the streets. Still very sick and the outlook pretty dim. Luckily a friend here had the house which was the first step to get him in. We got him hooked back up to finish his treatments and get his bills taken care of for a while. He is now doing a lot better, but still pretty screwed in the health department. Weakness, etc. We have him set up now where he can work when he is able. He`s doing pretty good compared to the situation he was in. All it took was a little help. Some people do not have this and no hope of it.
Ya know, this guy feeds my pets and watchs over our house when we are away. He has a key and I haven`t  lost one TV, DVD, cash or anything.
We , as a family, came too damn close to being in the situation he was in ourselves. A lot are a lot closer than they realize now. It don`t take long under the right circumstances.
Be thankfull for what you have now because you could very easily lose it all in a heartbeat.
Mac, you will figure out what needs to be done.

[WhiteHawk]

I wouldnt bring here anywhere neear my home.  few of the homelss are homeless because of a series of unfortunate events.  They usually work themselves into the situation with a number of reprehensible habits.  Let the professionals take care of the homeless.

[simshell]

people with Mental illness need to be taken off the street and got help they are living a life that they may not be fully aware that there is a better way to live

if it was not for my father my Mother would be on the street  my mom suffers extreme Mental illness and does not realy take care of herself


sadly its been a tough fight to get her anyhelp because she is not a danger to herself and she does not want help so its making it very hard for us to get her the help she needs


just noting somthing about the Mental ill

[WhiteHawk]

Originally posted by simshell
people with Mental illness need to be taken off the street and got help they are living a life that they may not be fully aware that there is a better way to live

if it was not for my father my Mother would be on the street  my mom suffers extreme Mental illness and does not realy take care of herself


sadly its been a tough fight to get her anyhelp because she is not a danger to herself and she does not want help so its making it very hard for us to get her the help she needs


just noting somthing about the Mental ill

That is a good point simshell.  Still, however, to deal with a homeless person that is not a fimily memeber or 'known to be safe' is risky business.  Maybe some good advice for awmac would be to put her in touch with a professional service.  There are a number of services available for the unfortunate.  (Although much fewer now than 6 years ago.).  Mental illness is best left to those who know how to deal with it.

[Maverick]

Slimshell,

Quite a few of the homeless were in an institution before. They were released as a court decision required them to be released unless they could definitively be shown to be a hazzard to themselves or others. Once they were released the numbers of homeless went up quite a bit.

I've run accross quite a few of them and alsmost died bescause of one of them. After he tried to stab me(the vest stopped the knife), the judge released him as he did not feel he was a danger just becuase he tried to stab a Police Officer. He ruled the individual to be incompetant to stand trial  but not incompetant to be out on the street totally unsupervised.

Six months later he was found in the middle of the night in a vancant house. He assaulted that Officer with a length of 2x4 causing injuries and knocking the flashlight out of the Officers hand so he couldn't see the homeless guy. The officer was of course back lit from the doorway and they guy continued to hit him with the 2x4. The Officer had to back out, firing a weapon blindly just based on where he thought the guy was standing while hitting him. Later a K9 was sent in amd the guy almost killed the dog. The handler was able to jump on him while he was striking the dog laying on the ground.

After the arrest they found another selection of knives and edged or pointed weapons on this guy consistent with his fascination with them. Guess who was released from custody AGAIN after he recovered from the single gunshot wound in his arm and serving 1 year in jail, not the state prison, just the county jail.

[StarOfAfrica2]

And while thats a sad report on the state of our criminal  justice system, its been long acknowledged in MANY states that there is a lack of resources to deal with indigent mentally ill.  Many could live with minimum supervision if they would only take medication regularly.  Who's going to administer it?  

I'm not now and will not advocate walking in blindly to help the "homeless".  But no one should be discouraged from doing SOMETHING to help.  Get advice.  Get a plan.  Get help, even.  Help to accomplish your goal more easily and help to watch your back.  As Mav noted, there are wolves out there among the sheep.  

No one, not even Jesus himself at his boldest, ever said you should recklessly invite danger into your life.  Protect  yourself by all means.  But a mere threat of possible violence should not stop us from reaching out to those who need help.  Charity and Caution are perfectly capable of coexisting.

[culero]

Originally posted by Jackal1
It`s pretty clear that some of the posters have some really screwed up ideas about the homeless.

~snippage~

Be thankfull for what you have now because you could very easily lose it all in a heartbeat.
Mac, you will figure out what needs to be done.

Word, Jackal.

Thankfully, I don't know anyone personally in a similar situation, but it could have easily happened to me/my family. My wife recently had to have bypass surgery on an emergency basis. 5 years ago, we would've been pretty much in the same boat. Due to some career choices I made back then, she got nothing but the best care and with no financial hardships involved for us. We're not only lucky and thankful for her health, but also for the fact paying for it won't bankrupt us. You're exactly right when you point out how many people are exposed in their current situations.

I also happen to have reason to deal with many homeless people locally on a day-to-day basis (one aspect of my business involves a daily opportunity for them to earn cash money). I can speak from experience in saying that as with any other cllass of people, there's a full range of character to see - even though it is unfortunately true that this class probably has a relatively very high percentage of people with more problems than just money.

Mac, what I would suggest if you really want to be helpful, not only to this lady but other folks like her, is investigate local shelters. Salvation Army does a great job here, as do a few local churches, in terms of offering a refuge where at low or no cost there's an indoor bunk, sanitary facilities, and a daily meal for folks who need it. Find one you can believe in, and contribute. They'll be able to gratefully accept either money, goods (food/blankets/clothes, toilet articles, etc) or possibly most valuable if you can afford it - your time as a volunteer.

Then steer this lady there. Its a much better solution than trying to re-invent the wheel yourself.

culero

[J_A_B]

"And while thats a sad report on the state of our criminal justice system, its been long acknowledged in MANY states that there is a lack of resources to deal with indigent mentally ill."


It's not a lack of resources--we had plenty of resources for years and years and still do.  It's because worthless liberals decided that it might hurt the crazies' feelings to keep them tucked away where they couldn't harm anyone.




"My question is there is one woman, looks just like my Sister...would it be wrong to bring her into my home "

It might not be 'wrong', but it would be remarkably stupid.  Don't do it.  


"or just turn my head and pretend I don't see her?"

That's a more prudent course of action.



J_A_B

[detch01]

Originally posted by AWMac
My question is there is one woman, looks just like my Sister...would it be wrong to bring her into my home ,wash her clothes, let her shower and give her a good meal and turn her back onto the streets....or just turn my head and pretend I don't see her?
Mac

It wouldn't be wrong to give this woman a good meal and a chance to clean up but putting your family at risk would be when there are other options available. There's been lots of good advice in this post for helping her without putting your family at risk.


Cheers &

asw

[simshell]

Originally posted by J_A_B
"

It's not a lack of resources--we had plenty of resources for years and years and still do.  It's because worthless liberals decided that it might hurt the crazies' feelings to keep them tucked away where they couldn't harm anyone.

J_A_B

i have to meet with a consuler ever week and iv talked to him about this issue alot and he says that they have been cut just about ever year and need more resources badly and the state is making it harder for them to help people


it drives me crazy when i tried to kill myself 3 times this year i got put into 3 places because of depression yet my mother who has gone totaly psychoatic for 10 years now and they wont do a dame thing about it

it pisses me off     because the only way there going to help her is if she go trys to hurt herself or others   and its pretty much im sure the same for all the other mentaly ill