I think something that alot of people don't realize is that alot of homeless are OK WITH BEING HOMELESS and DO NOT wish to be helped. As crazy as it sounds. They (some) become accustomed to the way of life living downtown and begging for crack money, and have no intentions of changing anything. Their standards have been lowered so much that homelessness is just their lifestyle. As the saying goes, you cannot help someone that doesn't want to be helped.

I once knew a guy from partying days a long time ago who was voluntarily homeless. He would come from his parents house in Brampton and panhandle downtown for drug money and sleep outside. His friends were in similar situations. They had families to go to but chose to be street kids.

It is your STANDARDS that guides your life. I guarantee you that if you took everything I own every last penny but one change of clothes and kicked me out on the street, I would have a place to stay (without help from friends, without blowing people's heads off! or anything else illegal) within a month. No question. There's no reason why anyone else couldn't do it (yes, exceptions: mentally ill etc). My standards are higher than to accept life without a place to live. That's really what it comes down to.

The most unfortunate thing is not that they are in a bad situation, but that they expect so little from their life, something thats very hard to change.

Last edited by jdjd on Nov-21-2005 at 20:52