"A pattern began to emerge. First was the loss of work, then housing, going begging to GA (General Assistance, welfare) where they were treated like second class citizens and beggars. Not finding a bed at the shelter, they are hassled on the streets by police. Then finally they get the courage, yes I mean courage, to ask others for a little change.
A person must feel awfully low inside to have to resort to panhandling as a way of getting money for food and a place to sleep, let along clean clothes and phone change. (Bus money to look for work is about as far as GA money goes).
A person gets tired of sleeping on the streets. I know. Men are lucky to get a shelter bed once or twice a month. Women fare a little better with a couple of nights a week, but even that gets tiring. After a while you need to sleep in a real bed, have some privacy, and take a bath alone. But you do not have money for a hotel room. Where do you get the money? Your last resort, panhandling. When you begin to see what a person must go through day after day, month after month, you gain a little understanding." Source
I assume the author was talking about Homeless in San Francisco~the mayor recently was out washing homeless people's feet, yuck, in a shoe/clothing giveaway, bless him~so the Shelter situation may be a bit different.
The situation described is exactly the same. Like police who become hardened, I suppose, they see "homeless" they think "bum". I paid taxes ever since I was 16, not a drug user (excepting the new drug~cigarettes) (and,um coffee, how I got hooked on that, don't know, prefer tea), if you've looked at some of my activities, hardly a lowlife. Bad enough to lose everything, any self-esteem left is quickly destroyed, when one turns to the government for help.
Dread the thought of another cross country bus trip, eating at the COA, sleeping on sidewalks, getting treated like trash, but still consider myself a California resident~that's what my ID sez. Decision made, so just a matter of picking the date and being gone.
Did some research on starting a Street Paper. Started the Business Plan, Mission Statement & alla dat; Action Plan. Stalled at stage one. Research. Dumb, erased the info. Unclear, if it was Vending or Retail or Selling, anyway one looks at the cost of getting a biz license in Long Beach is way out of my reach. Thought they might have some small fee for homeless people to sell newspapers. Better than panhandling. So scratch that idea. Was excited about it for a few minutes.
Posted on Tuesday, June 13, 2006
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