I remember 50 years ago, before anyone ever heard of the term "homeless" in New York, driving through the Bowery and seeing my first homeless person.
I was shocked to see these gaunt, filthy men, trying to wipe off our car's windshield with dirty newspapers (leaving more dirt than there before) in exchange for a handout.
My father had a pat explanation. They were "bums."
I got the idea that bums were a different species.
But later when I was old enough to realize my father's classification did nothing to improve things, I found it very disturbing to see the ever-increasing ranks of homeless on the streets.
This really hit me when I moved to LA in 1973 .
My father had an explanation for this too. In New York the cold winters kill them off but in LA they proliferate (this time it sounded like the species he had classified them with was bugs).
I realized later that there are certain common aspects to homeless people, which opens the door to helping to resolve the problem:
1. Many are the victims of psychiatry. They get hauled in to psychiatric facilities where the social services system pays for a certain number of days of commitment and then kicks them out onto the street with their prescriptions, paid for, again, by our tax dollars. These keep them in a permanent state of stupefaction so that if they ever wanted to improve things they would no longer be able to do anything to change their condition.
2. Many of them are alcoholics or drug addicts.
3. Many suffer from illiteracy
4. As with people who turn to crime as a way of life, many homeless have self-esteem issues.
I believe in charity that helps resolve these problems and so gives people a hand up. That's why I am a member of the International Association of Scientologists, where my membership dues go to support social betterment programs that get to the root of these problems and provide real help to people so they can improve their lives and pull themselves out of unwanted fixed conditions.
