| cheapskate | 04-15-2011 01:33 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by white_guilt
(Post 7391561)
That's really sad and inspiring at the same time. Those people are trying their best to make ends meet- to support their families, to put a roof over their heads and to put food on their table. They're not poor because they got hooked on drugs or alcohol, or because they hung out with the "wrong crowd" and or because they didn't watch enough Degrassi High when they were young and lashed out at society.
They're poor because they were born poor, and their country is over crowded and their government has ignored them. Without relying on hand outs and social services these people are trying to make the best of their existence (and I'm sure some of them don't even notice they're poor). People like them should be praised and the useless drains on societies that we have here that liter East Hastings can learn a thing or two from them. Nothing can truly crush human spirit/resourcefulness and this video is but a small example of that. If these people just had the good fortune to have grown up in a country like ours, imagine what they could accomplish. I'd gladly trade all the bums on East Hastings for people like them. I saw sooo many people like that when I toured China, and it's sad and remarkable at the same time. The irrigation systems and rivers that support entire farming communities, polluted beyond recognition from all the filth of industrialization- completely destroying entire families. How much of their meager produce can they actually sell in such a crappy location? Not to mention the loss of merchandise due to the exhaust and dirt from the passing train? Alas, c'est la vie.
| You acknowledge the perseverance and plight of people living in developing countries but yet fail miserably to see the plight of your fellow citizens. Clearly from your statement you know nothing about homelessness, drug addiction, and the abysmal situation of our healthcare system when it comes to mental disabilities.
Study after study has concluded, that by far, the majority of homeless people are simply people who have been severely traumatized and/or have severe mental disabilities who simply cannot function normally in society. Yet people like you not only lack the empathy to try to understand their situation, you project your own self-loathing and insecurities onto the homeless in the form of prejudice and vitriol.
Dr. Gabor Mate, one of Canada's most respected doctors has worked in the Vancouver Downtown East Side for almost ten years for the Portland Hotel Society, serving the most needy residents there and has documented the situation there in excruciating detail in his many articles and books. From his observations of patients (and that of every other study on homelessness I've come across) almost all homeless people were severely traumatized as children. The majority of the female residents living in the DTES were sexually molested by family members when they were kids, both the male and female residents were subject to severe verbal/emotional/physical abuse. In addition, many of the residents suffer from chronic mental/physiological illnesses that make them extremely susceptible to drug abuse and to manipulation by others (i.e. drug dealers/pimps).
You clearly do not understand nor care about these people. These "bums" have never asked for your sympathy nor charity. The far-majoirty of these "bums" were victims of circumstance of no fault of their own. They are no different from the victims of genocide and simply want to be left alone yet people like you seem to enjoy going to great lengths to make their lives more difficult through your incessant vitriol, contempt, and unwarranted discrimination (which in reality have nothing to do with them but are actually projections of your own insecurities btw).
You don't have to like them, but the least you can do is have the decency to not make life harder for the most desperate among us. | 