Posted on 08/24/2015 11:13:02 AM PDT by Mount Athos
During the near-decade photographing the homeless around her, the last person Diana Kim expected to stumble upon among them was her own flesh and blood. But that's exactly what happened during one of her photography shoots on the streets of Honolulu.
After years of lost contact, Kim found her father, homeless, disheveled and painfully thin, in the throes of a deteriorating mental condition — his schizophrenia had worsened.
When Kim finally summoned up the courage to approach him, he did not respond. "I stood there trying to get him to look at me and acknowledge me," she said.
"I can't count the number of times I sat next to my father on the street, wondering how his future would look like. I would sit there and pray quietly, just asking for a miracle and wishing that he would accept assistance. He would refuse to get treatment, take any medications, eat, bathe, or wear new clothes. I wasn't sure if he would get better. There were times when I thought he would die there on that street."
Over the next year and a half, Kim tried to rehabilitate her father as they reconnected, bit by bit.
(Excerpt) Read more at aplus.com ...
I’m calling BS on this story.
I think I would have handled this situation differently.
I see no BS and I would not have handled it differently. The way to help anyone is to hang out with them and be there in his brokenness. To see Jesus in his/her face.
Why?
Agreed. I believe she did the right thing. Did not jump in too quickly, believing everything would turn out perfectly. His heart attack was a blessing in disguise and they appear to have reconciled. I hope it lasts.
One doesn’t have to save the whole world....just one life at a time.
This would be the humane thing to do.
But it is too politically advantageous for Dems to have them littering the streets and committing crimes, because they can also be marched out when ever a republican is in office, to show how terrible things are.
Just like Blacks in the Democrat created and controlled ghettos, they serve as stage props for dems to high light their plight when repubs are in power.
“Anyone who does not have a viable address should be brought under institutional control. If they are addicted or mentally unstable they should be forced into long term treatment.”
What if they are not addicted or mentally unstable and don’t want a permanent address?
“Anyone who does not have a viable address should be brought under institutional control.”
IF adjudicated mentally deficient, akin to a guardian losing custody of a dependent (legal tautology of one being one’s own dependent - you must be capable of caring & providing for you).
While instances may be rare, I’ll stand for the right of someone to rationally forego a “viable address” and pursue a nomadic life.
I’ll also stand against depriving one of rights _without_ adjudication. Simple administrative declaration is not enough, smacking of bureaucratic totalitarianism.
amen
I, myself, do not like Soviet political ideals.
obviously you have no experience with the mentally ill..... it is very common for families to walk away and abandon some one who is mentally ill. generally those that have mental health issues on the street have very little or no contact with family anymore. I find this photographers story about finding her dad on the streets very believable.
If I could get away with no address, no phone and no ID numbers I would.
Why not? It would’ve gotten 0dungo locked up before he could run for President!
Homeless in Honolulu doesn’t seem like it would be as bad as homeless in NYC or Chiago?
Me: “Anyone who does not have a viable address should be brought under institutional control.”
You: “I, myself, do not like Soviet political ideals.”
Me: Focus! The USSR has nothing to do with this. Individuals roaming the streets with addiction and psychiatric issues, who do not have a legitimate address to call home, need to be removed from public/private places that they are inhabiting, and be processed into treatment centers.
“If I could get away with no address, no phone and no ID numbers I would.”
You can. It’s just quite a trade off from the sense of security frequently found with having a phone and ID numbers. The concept is very foreign to most since we are indoctrinated throughout life that those things mean not only security, but ones very identity as well. One can dump the phone and IDs and live in a city, which has its own set of challenges, or one can drop the same and live in areas uninhabited by othe people, which also has its own unique challenges. It truly is as simple as just walking away from it all, but very very few do such of their own accord.
I can't support it.
Addiction and psychiatric issues are something else again. If their addictions are causing them to engage in prostitution or thievery, or their psychiatric issues are causing them to be aggressive or paranoid, then yes, people who are an actual threat to themselves or others need to be removed from the streets.
But mere "homelessness" is not an act of aggression. A surprising number of people are homeless "in transition": lost a job, hitchhiking across the country to find another one; just got discharged from the service, wants to see the country.
If there are no grounds to justify arrest, such as criminal or aggressive activity, just "not having an address" is not an adequate reason to round people up and institutionalize them.
I will just add this to our friendly conversation. Not having an address, a home, a place to live is a fair indicator that a person is in distress. If in addition to not having an address, the individual is mentally unstable and/or addicted to drugs and/or alcohol, they should be rounded up and processed, for their safety as well as my safety. And BTW, the vast majority of people living on the street are psychiatric disabled and/or drug/alcohol addicted. They spread disease and crime. A compassionate society would provide clean safe institutions for these folks to get appropriate treatment. Turning our backs on them and leaving them in their pathetic condition is not compassionate. I am not talking about the recently discharged service man or women hitch hiking across the country to see the landscape. I know they are everywhere, but funny, I never see them. It's just the bums and the psychos that need help.
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