homeless in the suburbs

[ATLTJL]

She is definitely either mentally ill or on drugs, maybe both.

Well educated successful people don't just start shoplifting because they get divorced and lose their job.

It's probably the depression that got her more than anything, but I bet that the depression went untreated and developed into more severe mental illness or she took alcohol or drugs to try to cope.

Depression can cloud vision. It's easy for any of us to say so you got divorced and lost your job...that sucks, but hey, go out at wait tables. Go to bartending school and learn how to tend bar. Go to Manpower and get a temp job. These aren't prestigious things to do, but guess what? The alternative is ending up in a shelter with a criminal record, so get off your butt and go bust your butt to make ends meet. Eventually you'll be over the hump and things will get better.

You see, a normal person would think like this and this is why normal successful healthy people do not become homeless. They may become poor, they may become unhappy, but they don't end up on the street.

Homelessness just doens't happen unless you add drugs and/or mental illness into the mix. There are good programs to get people off drugs, but mental illness is unfortunately very misunderstood and incorrectly diagnosed. Even very well trained psychiatrists will generally just throw medication at it, which sometimes works but not always. It can be very difficult to have the time, discipline, or money to undergo congnitive behavioral therapy or even to find someone who can create an appropriate regimine for you....but it's the best way to control mental illness, either alone or combined with medication. Medication alone without any behavior modification is rarely effective. But it's the easy way, so it's what most people choose.

[KingJohn]

The 1% live in Alpheretta, don't expect them to help the poor.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

She is definitely either mentally ill or on drugs, maybe both.

Well educated successful people don't just start shoplifting because they get divorced and lose their job.

I agree, but it's really wasn't that simple. Her situation was sort of a downward spiral and somehow she couldn't find the way to pull out.

We talked about it a lot and never figured out why that was the case. You are right that the rational person who loses their job and home and marriage will just buck up and figure out another way to live. In her case, she couldn't -- or at least didn't -- do so.

And it didn't happen all at once. She took a few jobs at first but they didn't last. She was broke and bounced around to friend's houses, including ours. She briefly dated a couple of guys who did not help the situation. Then it seemed like she was getting sort of sickly and her appearance started getting rough around the edges. She needed some dental work but didn't have the money to get it done.

And then she just dropped out of sight. Could have been drugs involved but I honestly don't think so. Several months later she called and wanted to borrow a few hundred bucks. We sent her money several times, but didn't expect to get it back. It was then that the scrapes with the law came to light. A very minor shoplifting incident. An incident where she got a job but got fired when they found out about the shoplifting charge.

Again I'm in no way defending this. Just saying that I can kind of see how it happened.

[sanddollar5]

I live in Phoenix, Az. and homelessness is just apart of what our city has accepted and deals with by not dealing with it. Here we have two different types of homeless; one is that which I call the urban camper; the urban camper is the lost soul who has met misfortune and generally has some type of mental health issue as well as they more than likely are addicts of some sort as well. After a while of experiencing this in Life it becomes apart of them. They desensitize themselves to not having stablity, learn how to hussle what they need for the day, and pray they live another day. They sleep during the day and wander later in the day and into the night because it's safer. This has become a culture in our country. Due to the fact that we are not looking at other areas of Life that make a person become a liability for our communities. Alcohol, Meth, Bath Salts, Prescripton Drugs, & Herion play a VERY BIG role in the homeless inability to be a functioning citizen.

Then we have the second type; those that have become homeless due to our Bank system and the mishandling of billions of dollars. Wall Street gave our communities just that a population of people that are now living on the street behind store walls. This was due to lack of intergrity, honesty, and down right greed.

Everyone makes a difference in this area of life. Don't judge the homeless, look at what could have happened to this person for them to have to experience so much lack.

My husband and myself have a Life dedicated to helping the homeless and individuals with addictions of all types. Our passion is to change what we see in our communities. I encourage everyone to talk with your Government Officials to see how you can change this tragic disease that is sweeping our nation and effecting all of our communities. These are areas that need to be worked on: rehabilitate not incarcerate, rehabilitation serves that work on the problem of ones addiction and not just the symptoms, true effective education for children, areas where homeless can live within boundaries and not all over the place. These are just a few.

Like President R. Kennedy said " Don't ask what your country can do for you, Ask what can you do for your country.". Good Luck and God Bless everyone that takes on this challenge.

[clevergirl05]

Originally Posted by Onthemove2014

Then why don't I ever see homeless Mexicans? Do they know a secret?

Excellent point.

[Mirabella]

You probably don't see homeless Democrats either.

[MaryleeII]

Originally Posted by sanddollar5

I live in Phoenix, Az. and homelessness is just apart of what our city has accepted and deals with by not dealing with it. Here we have two different types of homeless; one is that which I call the urban camper; the urban camper is the lost soul who has met misfortune and generally has some type of mental health issue as well as they more than likely are addicts of some sort as well. After a while of experiencing this in Life it becomes apart of them. They desensitize themselves to not having stablity, learn how to hussle what they need for the day, and pray they live another day. They sleep during the day and wander later in the day and into the night because it's safer. This has become a culture in our country. Due to the fact that we are not looking at other areas of Life that make a person become a liability for our communities. Alcohol, Meth, Bath Salts, Prescripton Drugs, & Herion play a VERY BIG role in the homeless inability to be a functioning citizen.

Then we have the second type; those that have become homeless due to our Bank system and the mishandling of billions of dollars. Wall Street gave our communities just that a population of people that are now living on the street behind store walls. This was due to lack of intergrity, honesty, and down right greed.

Everyone makes a difference in this area of life. Don't judge the homeless, look at what could have happened to this person for them to have to experience so much lack.

My husband and myself have a Life dedicated to helping the homeless and individuals with addictions of all types. Our passion is to change what we see in our communities. I encourage everyone to talk with your Government Officials to see how you can change this tragic disease that is sweeping our nation and effecting all of our communities. These are areas that need to be worked on: rehabilitate not incarcerate, rehabilitation serves that work on the problem of ones addiction and not just the symptoms, true effective education for children, areas where homeless can live within boundaries and not all over the place. These are just a few.

Like President R. Kennedy said " Don't ask what your country can do for you, Ask what can you do for your country.". Good Luck and God Bless everyone that takes on this challenge.

Ummmm....that was JFK---President JOHN F Kennedy. There never was a president Robert kennedy, that was John's brother......

[sanddollar5]

The only homeless mexicans I have met are american mexicans ( I don't say this with any prejudice) as I am of mixed heritage. I am a real people person and from what I have experienced are again two things. As far as the Mexican & Am. Mexican population they are very family oriented.

The mexicans coming here looking for work are some of the hardest workers I have ever met. They take jobs that other homeless people won't. I am serious, my husband stopped and asked a caucasian homeless man with a "I will work for food" sign and offered him a job for the day, the guy asked how much will it pay, which was $85.00 for the job, he laughed and informed us that he makes more hustling with that sign in a couple of hours than we could pay him for the day. Now I met a young mexican gentleman who did odd jobs. He put up a fence for us that was very difficult. I drove by my store front and found him at 10 pm still working hard trying to get the gate to fit right. For the amount of money that we paid him I felt bad and felt for the heart and effort he put into the job I know I would have not done the job for that amount of money. He had a family to take care of and that young man was will to dig a ditch for a little of nothing to feed his family. That is why we don't see homeless mexicans.

Now please noone get the wrong idea that I am supporting something that I am not. What I support is the heart and spirit of all women and men. Just something to think about.

[sanddollar5]

MMMMMMMMMM...... I have met some homeless Democrats.