|
Now Playing - Anomaly "Please Remember"
**********************************************************
Just a comment on that one - I like Obama, but
while I believe the intentions were good, if we can shove the homeless out of the way for what is essentially a party while
still providing for them, why can't we do it on a regular basis with their long-term well being in mind? Hmmm...
**********************************************************
<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111091624&ps=cprs">
<a href="http://www.tauntongazette.com/homepage/x1176006968/Accomplishment-at-work">
Homeless man set on fire in Boston - March 5th,
2006
I was living in this neighborhood at
that time - I SOOOO wish I could have come walking along at that moment - people are sick.
BOSTON — A homeless man sleeping in a park
was attacked early Sunday by two men who kicked him in the stomach and then set him on fire, police said. No arrests were made
and police gave no indication of what might have motivated the attack. The
30-year-old homeless man, whose name was not released, told police he was awakened by the men kicking him in Langone Park in the city's
North End. He drifted back to sleep after the assault, but the men
returned, drenched him with a flammable liquid and set his legs on fire,
police said. A 911 caller reported flames in the park, and firefighters
found the man wrapped in a blanket after he had ripped off some of his burning clothes. "He was shivering and was partially dressed," said police spokesman John Boyle.
The
park is a short walk from a cluster of downtown bars. The victim was
treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for burns to
his legs. Nationally, the number of assaults against the homeless has
risen dramatically since 2002, according to a recent report by the National Coalition for
the Homeless. In 2005, 73
homeless people were
assaulted nationwide and 13 died, the report said. Last August, a 40-year-old homeless man died in Boston after he was beaten. Two teenagers have been charged with manslaughter. In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a homeless man was
beaten to death the same night a surveillance camera captured two
people assaulting a homeless men with a baseball bat. A third homeless man was bludgeoned nearby with a golf club.
Three teenagers have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder.
<a href="http://www.baystatebanner.com/local13-2008-01-24">
<a href="http://www.enterprisenews.com/homepage/x1928295167">
<a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/cold-f05.shtml">
<a href="http://wbztv.com/local/body.revere.water.2.1048436.html">
<a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Passers-By-Ignore-Brutally-Beaten-Homeless-Man-on-Sidewalk.html">
<a href="http://media.www.suffolkjournal.net/media/storage/paper632/news/2006/09/21/News/Students.Rescue.Dying.Man.In.The.Common-2306866.shtml">
1-28-09
Detroit homeless man found frozen
On Wednesday,
the Detroit News
reported that the body of what was likely a homeless man was found frozen in a solid block of ice, with only its lower legs
exposed, in the elevator shaft of an abandoned warehouse in Detroit. The
warehouse is home to many homeless
people. In a searing indictment of social conditions in Detroit, a city whose name was once synonymous
with American industrial might, the body was left for two days, even after being reported. Neither police operators
nor the 911 emergency service followed up on repeated requests from a Detroit
News reporter that the body be removed from the ice. According to the homeless inhabitants of the warehouse, the body
had been there for weeks.
A few observations...
So I'm sitting
on the bus one morning on the way to work, and this woman gets on the bus, followed closely by this guy, who is obviously
homeless/distraught/troubled, and he's yelling at her at the top of his lungs - something about "You think you can walk behind
a man and say things like that about him?" and "Who are YOU? Who are YOU? Who are YOU to talk to me like that? You don't respect
me?" A few expletives(use your imagination) and he's standing about two feet in front of her SCREAMING at her - and at first
I thought "I better intercede here before this gets violent" but then I looked at the guy - really looked at the guy, at his
face, at his eyes, and I didn't really feel he was a danger to anybody, so I let it play out.
So then he sees
another woman on the bus - " I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU" - (as it turns out, he didn't) - and she plays along with
it - and the guy hugs her and then starts BAWLING - he's going on about how "I just want people to know God
is HERE - I just want them to KNOW - people don't KNOW - they don't KNOW"- and he's just crying and crying and he just totally
lost it - and then he got off the bus peacefully without further incident.
Now I have
no religious leanings one way or the other - that's not why I'm relating this story. I guess what I took from that is
that the guy is just BROKEN. He's BROKEN. For whatever reason, his SOUL is just BROKEN. And HE'S NOT BEYOND FIXING!!!!!
Or at least patching up. I really believe that. So let's do it.
Peace to all
NCS
Why is this man standing chest-high in a dumpster? Hmmm.....
So I'm on the bus again, getting off
at the stop nearest my workplace, and I see a homeless guy sleeping on the bench in the bus stop enclosure, and next to him
is, presumably, his wheelchair, which, on the front of the back has the handwritten words
"God Bless The USA - Give
me a place to live and I'd be happy"
Hmmm...if
that isn't a cry for help I don't know what is.
A comment I overheard from a homeless
woman to a homeless friend of hers regarding the bag he was using to carry his stuff in -
"Oh Yeah, that suitcase is GREAT - it makes you look more like
a travelling person and less like a HOMELESS person"
I'm sitting at an extremely well-known fast food establishment one
day and I overhear the following conversation between a homeless guy and an employee of said establishment - the homeless
guy doesn't have enough money for anything on the menu, and so he's asking the guy at the counter if he could just give him
something - it went as follows -
"Oh, I don't have enough, even for that - uhh - do you think you could give
me a break and help me out with something to eat? I'm STARVNG."
"Well, no, sir, I can't, you have to pay for it."
"But I don't have enough."
"I know but you have to pay for it."
"But I can't."
"I know."
"So you can't help me out?"
"No sir."
"Why not?"(A legit question)
"Because I can't."
"You can't? You CAN'T? What do you mean you CAN'T?"
"You have to PAY for it, sir. I can't just GIVE it to you."
At this point, the homeless guy is getting really upset,
for obvious reasons, and then another employee comes along and reaches over the counter and gives the guy a burger -
Free Of Charge. And of course the homeless guy is
ecstatic, and proceeds to berate the other guy who wouldn't give him anything -
"You see? You SEE? HUH? HE gave me something!!!"
No response.
He then turns his attention to the guy who did give him something and starts
thanking him and asking him if he was going to be a manager someday and so on and so forth.
Sooo...here's my thoughts on that - SAD fact is this - the guy who gave him the
burger, if any of his superiors found out about it, would probably be FIRED never mind getting
promoted - because you can't be GIVING things away - right? That kid would be toast if his
boss found out about it, and the other kid who refused to give the guy a burger would actually be much more likely to get
promoted because he held the company line.
Hmmm.....
It occurs to me that it may seem odd to some of you
that I just happen to overhear all these things - but I assure you these conversations and things I see are real - most of
these occurrences are in the neighborhood where I work, which is
rife with homelessness among other things - it really is one of several parts of town that would qualify as Homeless Central.
There is a little building down there that is for lease -
Hmmmmm...............................................................
They look DEAD - and,
I suppose, to a large part of society, they are.
In
The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, there
is no such thing.
|
