Posted on 11/09/2001 9:08:45 AM PST by B4Ranch
With 250,000 homeless vets, that's a lot of emails to be sent out to all the city governments demanding that they all be left alone and ignored in their plight.
That's a nice thought.
He is claustrophobic and therefore requiring him to sleep indoors means that he has to take a medicine that is not needed when sleeping outdoors. Doctors need their patients to fit into catagories. Well, this one doesn't fit into a large catagory, maybe something like .01% of all homeless Vets are claustrophobic, so the politicians and doctors have ignored them knowing full well that they exist.
It is much easier to medicate and jail than it is to treat and cure. You aren't a teenager, you should know this.(Don't expect a reply to a smarta** response.)
Go sometime to an old folks home. You will see the people circling the halls in their wheel chairs talking to themselves and looking for someone familiar. Or you will see those who are cowering in a corner unable to trust, unable to relate. Many times these people are on continual medication to "relax" them and make them fit into their surroundings. In other words, they are drugged into a state of accepting life as someone else has designed it for them. It is sad. It is pathetic. It is sometimes necessary because there simply is no one in the world willing to provide those people with what they really need....a friendly hand, a loving kiss, a safe environment elsewhere.
I have watched 10 of the elders in my family die in the past few years. I only have a couple more to go before my generation takes their place. Each of them taught me a new lesson about what it really means to become old. I watched drugs being adminstered and trusted that the drs knew what they were doing. I then saw the hallucinations and stupors caused by some of the drugs. And I heard the begs of "get me out of this place." And I learned that if we do not step in and offer better solutions the doctors will be right there with their meds to fix what is wrong with them. Thank God in my family we were able to advocate for our elders and take them home and offer them lives of dignity. It just killed me to see all of the people who had no one....or no one who took the time to give a damn.
On a daily basis my mom walks through the house humming a song and asking me, "what am I doing here....what's next...it's the pits getting old....don't ever get old!" She has dementia and I know she would drive someone who didn't appreciate her right up a wall. I give up a lot by staying home and taking care of her, but I would have it no other way. She is one of the last of a long line of people who we did the same for. The elderly and the mentally disturbed get keyholed in society. One day Northcut will have to relent and accept care because he will not be able to do for himself. I know the first avenue of care will be drugs that make him NOT FEEL himself. It's a frustrating and horrible thought to me. Today he is free....he deserves to be left that way!
At the risk of stereotyping the homeless and homeless Vets in particular,
Communities must set up some type of Triage to deal with their problems.
By Triage, I mean deciding who needs what type of help.
RT is a prime example of a Homeless Vet that has made his place in the world by his choice,
and he is comfortable in his choice,
and that should be respected.
But others are not so lucky,
There are those that are homeless due to fate,
They have failed to maintain what we all strive to achieve,
a decent job,
a home,
and a life without want.
In short they have fallen on hard times and are despondent over their failure.
They are the ones that need retraining, job placement and most importantly a roof over their heads while they regroup.
All too often they are thrown into shelters that make no distinction between their needs,
and the needs of those with abuse problems or severe mental problems.
Seperating shelters into facillities that address certain problems would truly make a dent in the problem of homelessness
and the downward cycle that it carries with it.
It also requires the willingness to do so.
And that is something most communities are not ready to tackle head on.
It is all too easy to use the force of law to run them off so that they are someone else's problem instead.
Thank you
Someone above here, mentioned how strange the world has become regarding dogs these days. I truly used to be, that dogs ran free. I think dogs were more social back then. They didn't attack innocent people like now, because they were raised "around" humans more. Around kids in the neighborhoods.
People knew which ones were NON social..and they were kept chained or pinned up.
Not sure of the answer to that scenario any longer.. but do know that this story was heart wrenching!!!
Thanks for the pics friend. Mary Ann
From the article:
About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services.
And this:
At this time, scientific studies indicate that there is no known, direct connection between military service, service in Vietnam, or exposure to combat and any increased risk of becoming homeless
Hmmm...1 out of 3 homeless people are veterans, but there is no connection between military service and homelessness. Well, unless 1 out of 3 of all adult US citizens are veterans, these two statements can't both be true.
Move along folks, nothing to see here.
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