Berkley RV homeless

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rls7201 said:
Cigarettes helped keep me off of other drugs. I recognized the fact that I was addicted to nicotine and didn't have the will power to quit. With that thought in mind, I wouldn't dare try any other drugs, for fear that I wouldn't have the will power to quit. After 43 years of smoking, I finally found what I needed to quit at age 56.
And while I'm here I would like to offer a quote from Dr. Ben Carson.

"If you meet someone living on the streets who has no home, no car and very little if any money, and you were able to convince him that if he met you in Bismark, North Dakota, in 72 hours that you would give him $1 million dollars, I can virtually assure you that he would find a way to get there. People can generally find a way to do what ever they want to do, and they find hundreds of excuses for what they don't want to do."

All this from a man that grew up in the hood, in extreme poverty with a single parent and achieved far beyond most.

:)) :)) :))
Not to be picky but it is Bismarck, North Dakota.
Bill
 
Paul 1950 said:
The heroin problem is a mental health problem.

the homeless addicts will often say,  Heroin is so much cheaper than the Oxy's his Dr. prescribed.

many addictions come from a "medical" problem,  not so much  a Mental health problem. 
 
Bill N said:
:)) :)) :))
Not to be picky but it is Bismarck, North Dakota.
Bill

LOL!  Good one. The type was right in front of me and I couldn't copy it.
 
"I don't have the answers either, but I can say with certainty the situation that is created when you stop making people responsible for their own welfare. "

As far as I can tell, many homeless are taking responsibility for their own welfare.  Some people just don't approve of how they do that. The folks camping on the street aren't relying on someone else to provide them with a shelter. They aren't living in a car because they don't have one. And a lot of them, most in fact, eventually find a way out of their situation. Most do it with the helping hand of someone who is willing to extend it to people who often aren't all that attractive or easy to work with.

As for empathy, I think that really is a choice. You can choose to empathize or you can choose to judge. I find it hard to empathize with people who choose to judge. But I work on it.
 
Ross it is hard not to judge when you see something like this:  A large local community recognized it had a homeless problem that was manifesting itself in the number of people standing at major intersections with signs begging for money.  Some would have a dog with them and one fellow even raised his pant leg to show off his prosthesis leg.  Anyway, the city developed a program that used two specially provided buses to pick up these folks at their normal intersection begging points each morning and take them to a day job or to the job service office, which ever they wished, insure that those who worked got paid a day wage and then picked them up in the evening and returned them to their desired location.  The thought was that the program should solve or at least ease the problem.  The local news rag decided to check up on this wonderful program after a few weeks of operation.  The result:  4 riders total the day they observed and all went to the job service office - none took a day job.  Shortly after the program was discontinued and the buses put to other uses.  So I do judge at least some of them and even the city powers that be has asked that folks not hand over cash to those begging at intersections.  Their research has shown that most of those receiving the cash use it for alcohol or drugs.

Bill
 
Standing at an intersection every day with a sign is a soft life? I don't think so. As I understand it, those intersections where people beg are lucrative turf that people vociferously defend.  In other words, the city was trying to get rid of people who already had a relatively good paying gig by offering them the "opportunity" to get a job that would likely bring in less money and that their experience tells them they couldn't hang onto. In most cases, as far as I can tell the only problem those folks' begging really causes is to make people feel uncomfortable. And, yes, if enough people don't give them money they will go away. Which is why people defend the lucrative turf, there are a lot of locations that don't bring in enough to be worth the effort. 

I think it is a fallacy to think that people are homeless because they don't have a job. They are homeless because they don't have a home. In some cases a minimum wage job would eventually solve that problem, but in many cases it won't.  In some cases begging on the corner will eventually solve that problem too. In many cases it won't. People can divide the world into the virtuous poor and the un-virtuous poor. But I think the Christian belief that we are all sinners is a better approach to the world. "Judge not, lest you be judged."  I don't give money to people standing at intersections, but that's not because I don't think they deserve my empathy.
 
Back in the late 1980s when panhandling was just beginning, I bought a 1970 green and white Ford Econoline Class B van that needed some body work.  It had spent much of it's life on the east coast and in Florida so road splash had eaten away large areas of the sidewalls and quarterpanels below the floor line.  This didn't affect the serviceability of the camper, so I began using it while figuring out how to fix the damage.  It ran fine, but the overall appearance was pretty dingy.

Shortly after buying it, I took a trip to Arizona.  One evening I pulled into a rest stop for dinner.  While I was there, several people knocked on my door and asked how I was doing.  I said I was fine and just stopped to eat.  After the second or third such visit, I got out and inspected the camper, thinking maybe I was getting a flat tire or had another problem.  Everything looked fine, or at least no worse than usual.

Before I left, I used the rest stop toilet and found a note taped to the mirror above the sink.  "Please help .  Out of gas and money, green and white Ford camper."

Sure enough, as I left the rest area there was ANOTHER green and white Ford van, newer and looking better than mine, at the other end of the parking lot.  I was going to stop and see what he needed but the occupant gave me such a nasty glare as I approached that I kept going.
 
Saw this post by a member of a Facebook group I belong to.

My hubby and I would like to invite anyone to our new group
Not Quite By Choice RV Living
It?s for anyone who is about to or has mostly lost everything and now must live in their RV with limited income. Only one question is asked to join the group. We?re trying to help each other and others who are in our situation!

Not sure when the group was started but they have 216 members. 

 
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.
 
MedfordRV said:
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.

:))
 
MedfordRV said:
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.

      :)) :)) :))
 
Paul 1950 said:
  The most common drug that is used to avoid a reality someone cant deal with is alcohol.
  More people die from alcohol than all the other drugs combined, in the interest of public safety Alcohol should be the illegal drug. 

It's odd that California is able to spend 98 billion dollars for a bullet train.  But refuses to even acknowledge the Homeless Problem. 
 
MedfordRV said:
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.


Are your politics and your Calvinism allowed on this forum?
 
MedfordRV said:
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.

:)(
 
MedfordRV said:
We as a society are unwittingly adding to this problem and have laid a trap for many of the poor. We attempt to solve every problem for many and now being poor has just become the family business passed down generation to generation. This perpetuates lethargy, idle hands and right into to the devils workshop stated so clearly throughout this thread. And I do have compassion for people who have fallen into this trap not devised of their own making. We are much of the problem by letting it continue with the choices we make every forth November. And I'm not blind that some do need the safety net but we have let it become much to wide.
:)) :)) :)) :))
 
Sometimes people have to suffer to grow.  When we take away all the suffering and pain in society we are robbing an individual of their dignity and self esteem to help themselves. 

Ever binge watch Netflix and then get up and think "Wow I really feel like new, better person."

Now ever figure out an RV problem that was a real bugger and get the feeling of accomplishment that comes along with it.  When I first started RVing our rig wouldn't charge the house battery.  Do you know how much I had to learn to figure out it was a corroded piece behind the windshield washer fluid container that was the problem?  If someone just came and fixed it for me it would have robbed me of self esteem and dignity. 

Some might call it tough love.  My dad just thought it was learning about life. 
 
John Beard said:
Just a tidbit, but by living full time in a motor home, the Veteran's Administration considers you homeless. I am certain so that they don't have to pay housing benefits to veterans who opt for full timing.

What housing benefits?  I'm a veteran and I receive no benefits.  Am I missing something?
 
Oldgator73 said:
The only housing benefits I know of is if you are utilizing the Post 9/11 GI Bill.

That's because being a Vet never meant anything until after 9/11.  :-\
 
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