Homeless

M

Mino

Northern Dreamer
So it's unseasonably cold here in Vancouver -12 feeling like -16. I had to run an errand just now and spyed low gas prices so I filled up. It took maybe five minutes to fill the tank during which time I started to shiver and wish the gas would flow way faster. By the time the tank was full I was freakin cold! (did I metion I'm a wus) I drive to my next poet of call and park outside the store. Sitting on the ground outside the store is a homeless guy dressed way lighter than me, just sitting there on the sidewalk staring at the little dixie cup before him. I'm thinking HOW THE HELL...Do you do that? My initial reaction was to put more money than I should in his cup but ended up putting five bucks (normally he would have got nothing but it's cold) Then it dawned on me that what I really needed to put in his cup were the tools he needed to keep him from having to sit on the sidewalk at 8 0' clock at night in minus 12 degrees. Times are tight for me at the moment because my work is seasonal, so I go get a second job so as to not have to sit on that sidewalk next to that guy. Sometimes I wish that for just five minutes I could trade places and become that guy so I could figure out what makes him give up and just sit in the cold....Sigh:(
 
It's nowhere near -12 here, but it is very chilly none-the-less.

I was freezing while walking to class today, and I started thinking about homeless people. It must be so insanely frustrating to be out in the cold and have the feeling of nowhere to go.

I don't know. I hear ya Mino- everytime I see a homeless person I wonder whatit is that really separates me and that guy... I honestly haven't found the answer.
 
Not giving up.

And either a lack of addictions... or at least having the ability to control an addiction enough to function.

Sad.
 
Up North the homeless just freeze to death, for the most part. Which is sad because even those trying to help them out aren't enough to motivate them to do something.
 
Dmitry Kichenko said:
Up North the homeless just freeze to death, for the most part. Which is sad because even those trying to help them out aren't enough to motivate them to do something.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I get my temp from the weather network on;ine which tells me it's -11 in New westminster at present. Maybe the info theyre dishing out is flawed and it is in fact -2. My feeling out there was way below -2. Maybe Van is warmer?
 
hi mino, talk too some people who have had hard time and you'll realize there is very little difference between you and a homeless person. I dont know why u know he gave up but next time talk to people. u will learn alot. and no their not all drug addicts.

true Dmitry. those motivators are doing all they can and those people love to freeze to death. What are u smoking, give me some.:)
 
Last edited:
deedive said:
hi mino, talk too some people who have had hard time and you'll realize there is very little difference between you and a homeless person. I dont know why u know he gave up but next time talk to people. u will learn alot. and no their not all drug addicts.
Click to expand...
Good point! I've often wondered how thin the line is between myself and the homeless guy, or anyone else and the homeless guy. I've been homeless myself when in the seventies I ripped off across the country riding my thumb with only a backpack to house my meagre possesions. And I made some dumb moves that ended up not paying off in spades to be sure, but I'd always bite the bullet, get a job and get situated before the cold rolled in and not once did I ask anybody for a dime unless I was borrowing against a first paycheck or something. That was the beauty of being 18 and carefree,,,I can't even discuss the idea as an alternative at 50. I agree with your point though that communication brings understanding.
 
Last edited:
I've tried talking to some. Most of them weren't quite sane, or weren't stable. But some were indeed just.. people.. out in the streets.
 
i have never been homeless, but i have seen horrible thing happen to people. (for no reason) Crap happens. I dont think there are may homeless people that want to be. At the same time im not going to say "wow, i'm great, im doing well so why can't everyone else." There are things that i can take that others can't and visa versa. Life is like a game of dice. Hope your lucky.

Not all homeless people are insane, some are. Here in ny alot of people from mental hospital are just put out on the street with nothin but a bottle of the medication they are supose to take. If these people could take their med by themselves what happens when they run out. Being mentally unstable would make it very difficult to get a job.
 
Last edited:
Hey Dmitry, I just tried to put my thermometer outside which looks the same as your avatar only it's black. It put one paw on the deck and then looked at me with the "you and whos army is gonna put me out there!" look. So I'm guessin it's plenty cold:)
 
deedive said:
i have never been homeless, but i have seen horrible thing happen to people. (for no reason) Crap happens. I dont think there are may homeless people that want to be. At the same time im not going to say "wow, i'm great, im doing well so why can't everyone else." There are things that i can take that others can't and visa versa. Life is like a game of dice. Hope your lucky.
Click to expand...

I can't see anyone wanting to be homeless. I think there are many reasons for the condition, mental ilness(where these people used to be in facilities that were closed due to budget cuts) I also think some have been raised by abusive parents who told them they were stupid and useless and they've adopted that as their belief system killing their self esteem, some are young and challenging fate, some are addicts and some are probably not equiped at the time we see them to be able to deal effectively with the situation they find themseles in at that time. So there I've sort of half answered my original question haven't I:)
 
Sometimes, the only difference between us and them, is a single paycheck. Ya work your ass off, and something happens- you get sick, your Boss streamlines, there's a car wreck and now you're hurt, got doctor bills... Landlord can't hold on another week or two. And once you hit the street, it ain't easy to get off it. Who wants to hire you? No home, you don't have clean clothes because you slept in them. Some just got tired of working hard and getting screwed.
 
I see that all the time and thank my lucky stars that it isn't me.

When I was 15 I left home, didn't run away, I simply walked out of the front door and said goodbye to my coked out mother and step father. I slept in train stations, under the boardwalks, once in a blue moon at a friends house or in their garage and in people's back yard sheds for over a year. I know what it's like to be in that guy's shoes and thank god I was young, eventually I ended up in jail but found people who wanted to help me and ended up where I am today.
 
One of my best friends here was homeless for six months; his father put him out of the house when he was sixteen, he worked two or three minimum-wage jobs at a time and slept on buses and in shelters and kept clean using public bathrooms until he had the funds to get an apartment, and no one was any the wiser, while he did it.

I know people who basically live in the parking lot at the Malibu Ralph's; they panhandle for food and have their own tiny community going; I don't know where they go when it gets cold. Some have cars, and they sleep and keep their kit there. Some are on disability, a few just don't want to have a permanent address, for their own inscrutable reasons; a lot are on long-term medication with mental problems that make it difficult if not impossible for them to function in a show-up-every-day-for-a-paycheck situation.

I've met people in grocery store parking lots who have kids, who are living out of their car, which is the last place they have, who for one reason or another ended up in the 'one paycheck from disaster' situation, and then lost that last paycheck. I don't generally hand out cash, but I always ask if I can bring them food or supplies from the store when I come out; in the last few years I've never made it to my car with leftovers from a Santa Monica eatery; I always run into someone on the sidewalk in rough shape, who can use the food more than I can.

When she got home last night, my wife noted the exact thing that Mino did; it was cold (well, by Santa Monica standards; where she works) and she was shivering inside her jacket, and the people panhandling and living-on-the-street were dressed even thinner than she was.
 
Last edited:
I'm up here on SFU on top of a mountain and it's ridiculously cold. Just goes right to the bones.

I go downtown a lot by bus and see the homeless people huddled up, freezing their asses off. Kills me every time I see it
 
The Art of Survival​
Tao Te Ching – Verse 50
​
[FONT=&quot]As life goes out, death comes in. Life has thirteen paths. Human life arrives at the realm of death also in thirteen moves. Why is this so? It is because life is lived lavishly.

[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]Now, as it is well-known, those skilled in attracting life can travel across the land without meeting a rhinoceros or tiger. When the military comes in, their defense cannot be attacked. The rhinoceros is without a place to thrust its horn, the tiger finds no place to fix its claw, the military has no place to admit its blade. Why is this so? It is because they are without the realm of death.[/FONT]​

-----------------------------------------

​
The thirteen paths mentioned here refer to the human senses and their apertures. Enlightened people carefully control and monitor what goes in and out of their senses, practicing moderation to limit output to be less than input. They know that the life force grows stronger when the energy received from the senses is used for internal growth.

A strong life force creates certain invulnerabilities in life. People are protected from harm not because they are lucky, but because they do not cultivate weakness (the realm of death).

Therefore, enlightened people don't put themselves into a position where they are vulnerable to attack or misfortune. They are aware that as life goes out, death comes in, so they preserve their energy and engage in life-enhancing pursuits.

The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long. People who live life in the fast lane spend their life force more quickly and so they die younger. This is also like those who subsist on the fear of harm or dying – they cannot live.

The key to a long life is to do the following:

Practice moderation in consumption and activity. Harmonize with the cycles of nature. Limit output to be less than the input of one's senses. Know oneself and be one with a fully integrated universe in that everything is connected with everything else. Taoist monks routinely live well into their second century by practicing these principles.
 
Many people seem to have a fixed idea on what a "monk" is or should be. They tend to view a monk as some guy who meditates, alone or with a group, and is completely withdrawn from society.

Perhaps when you think "live that long," you are thinking of someone who is frail with poor quality of life? Imagine living well into your second century, but imagine still being strong, agile and in good overall health.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top