No Simple Solution To Helping Homeless

No Simple Solution To Helping Homeless

Lying on the ground in sub-freezing temperatures with only a cardboard box and a blanket to guard against the frozen ground and bitter cold temperatures, a family of four tries to survive through the night.   Men, women, and children wait   for the morning sun’s polarizing rays to thaw them out.   The doors of the food shelter will open soon, providing many with their only meal of the day.   This is the setting   for thousands of families and hundreds of thousands of single individuals across America’s cities.   These frozen, hungry masses are the homeless.   Although some non-profit groups try to help the homeless, much more needs to be done because many of the homeless still suffer from a plethora of problems including mental illness, varying degrees of unemployment and increasing numbers of whole families becoming homeless.
Most American citizens have pity when they look at the homeless, but cringe when actually asked for help.   Consequently, very few citizens know anything about the homeless or their problems.   Nonetheless, American citizens want the problem of homelessness resolved as long as it does not affect their pocketbooks.   Help for the homeless is hindered by the myth that stereotypes the homeless as older, alcoholic, single men who would rather steal or beg for money than work for a living.   Another excuse many people use is the false belief that people sleeping outdoors on the sidewalks, doorways, and park benches do so by their own choice, as if homelessness were an affirmation of an ideal lifestyle.   The epitome of ignorance about the homeless comes from one of our own presidents.   “The homeless are homeless, you might say, by choice” - Ronald Reagan (Robertson.   Others argue that the homeless should not be helped because they are not worth helping, and even if helped, they would quickly return to that lifestyle.   Still others dismiss the homeless as a small problem, stating that the numbers of homeless are lower than what they actually are.   The...