Homeless?

When I first came to Mesa, Arizona over 30 years ago I rarely noticed homeless people with shopping carts or improvised camping gear.  In Phoenix, yes.  But not many outside of there.

Maybe it was just me, but I could stop at a convenience store and it wasn't often that I saw a panhandler out front.  Or, maybe a homeless person camping out back with a large inventory of what looked like junk  in a shopping cart. But then that was in the early 1980's.

Now I understand that it's not against the law to be poor.  That question has actually been adjudicated in the higher courts in various jurisdictions, with mixed outcomes.  For one thing, it's difficult for police to have to be responsible to keep homeless people off the streets, considering the many more serious crimes they much deal with on their shifts.

And I know that a lot of smart people have tried to come up with solutions.  But we can see the effects of their efforts in the downtown areas of our communities.  Not much luck.

I don't feel sorry for, or look down on the homeless.  Behind every homeless person there's a sad or tragic tale.  No one grows up with the goal of living a hard life on the streets.

On the other hand I believe that we live in a world of abundance and opportunity.  And if the homeless just make a small amount of effort they can locate resources to help them get back into the mainstream of life.

I once read a story in the old Life magazine, which was doing a story about a billionaire who lived in Michigan.  As they were researching his early life they discovered that at one time there was a homeless alcoholic who had the same name as the billionaire. The bum was always drunk and slept on bus benches and in parks.  During subsequent research the reporters asked the billionaire if he knew about the homeless man who shared his name.  

"That was me," he replied.

"What happened? asked a reporter.

"I got tired of living like that.  So I changed, he replied."

I believe that any of us can do the same thing - change.  We just need to make the decision.

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