Oddly enough, I am currently reading "Breakfast at Sally's" by Richard Le Mieux. It is Mieux' autobiography in which he describes his battle with homeless. His story is very much like my own, except he had a vehicle and I do not.
Within his story is a description of how the homeless are viewed by society, stating, "...people are afraid of the homeless...disgusted when they see a person digging through a garbage can...frightened when someone unclean talks to them...." (p. 243)
Some of those fears are exacerbated by a relatively small percentage of people who are mentally ill and/or on illegal ugs, people who think nothing of turning the world into a garbage heap and who relieve themselves whenever and wherever the mood strikes.
He goes on to quote Elliot Lisbow's "Tell Them Who I Am" stating, "You are not needed anywhere, not wanted anywhere. Nobody cares what you do." (P. 248) How true that is. In fact, I have an acquaintance who was a self-professed "spook" for twenty-three years and one day I told him, "If the IC [intelligence community] ever wants to know what is going on in the world, they should pose as homeless people." He grinned and nodded his head.
I am serious. Over the course of three years (before I returned to Las Vegas) I have spied on the Egyptian Embassy, the Saudi Embassy, the State Department, and have listened to various phone conversations as well as those occurring at the table next to me that I am pretty sure included classified information. (Does a conversation with Samantha Power in the Green Room of the White House qualify? Who needs the NSA when people insist on shouting at the person on the other end of the call?! Besides, it makes panhandling a little less boring.)
So, yes, the homeless are ignored. However, I am happy to say I now have a home. Can you believe the VA has finally come through?!
NOTE: My next article will cover the debacle in Syria. Stay tuned!
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