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Having thought about it over rather a sleepless night, I now think I was in the wrong.

I can't imagine Jesus Christ (or Mother Teresa or St. Vincent de Paul) turning the water on these guys; and I can't imagine thinking it would be a good thing if it happened to me.

It has the "feel" of treating very unfortunate men as if they were an infestation of rodents.

I tried to imagine what could be done to get these guys to the shelters. The Archdiocese could actually pay for vans to drive them down to the St. Joseph's Family Center on Guerrero, or the Hospitality House on Turk Street --- those I remember, and I know the city has more.

That would work if the men were cooperative, and willing to obey the shelter rules (no drugs, no alcohol, no weapons, no fighting.)

If they weren't cooperative -- and some might not be, some have serious mental health issues --- I don't quite know what to do.

Drenching people with water is not respectful, and also it apparently isn't even effective ---since the system has been been in operation for 2 years, and the homeless still come to sleep, pee and poop in the 4 alcove doorways. In any case, I was wrong to defend the sprinkler system. I should have realized that a once.

A lot of times people get distracted by some keywords and forget how narrow a particular discussion actually is, in this case a lot of people saw “homeless” and started thinking and posting about all the issues, and problems, and annoyances that we have with them, rather than focusing solely on this narrow story about the water system.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks for posting. I have learned that each of these people has a story, if one is willing to listen. And some may very well be veterans of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. I try not to think of anyone less than myself but least of all a vet who has served and is struggling.

Mental illness and addiction go hand in hand. Again, I personally know low bottom cases that came back. It is only by God's Providence they recovered and they are considered miracles.

Related to this, a hot topic in my church community are cities that are banning feeding the homeless. (See More Cities Are Making It Illegal To Hand Out Food To The Homeless) The reasoning seems to be the cities want to concentrate services for the homeless to one area. Some would argue that they want to create a ghetto and hide the problem. Tough problem, but I think the church should do everything it can and be vocal about it.