What? Me Worry?

Yeah... sometimes I do... but as one of the homeless in Livermore I don't worry about what you might think. I don't worry about the police waking me up and telling me to move on, even though they sometimes do. I do not worry about getting something to eat... though sometimes I get a little hungry... What I do worry about a lot is the bad behavior of other homeless people.

Names... well, Adam, for one... as of today, he's on probation for battery and violating a restraining order. Two weeks ago, he started a fight in the main library at the civic center inside! (Computer Room, attacking the man who sat at station 9). Then there's Rich. Rich lost a lot of stuff one day because he didn't clean up his stuff within the three day time allotted to him to move out of his camp site. People who saw it said there was no place to stand, there was so much squalor! Ask Rich about it and he'll tell you how abused he is by the City and how he's going to get them back! He's going to camp on the lawn in front of City Hall till he gets satisfaction!

Oh, and have you heard about Popeye and Bill? They moved in by the now vacant library at Pacific and Livermore, making one hell of a mess, getting drunk and: surprise, surprise, surprise... someone complained! Oh the humanity, they had to leave...

I was talking to my friend Lynn yesterday morning at Vineyard Christian Fellowship (that's where the homeless get showers on Monday Morning)... and he was asking me what could be done about this sense of entitlement a lot of the homeless have.

I hate having to repeat myself... so I'll just write it down and post it and give anyone who asks again the link to this blog: STANDARDS! Damn it! Yes, folks, the lion's share of the homeless think the world owes them a living. And don't get me wrong, there are, among the homeless, people who actually are trying to make their way and do things right! You will not usually recognize them as homeless, but they do exist. I told Lynn that a lot of these people have the maturity of a kindergarten age child. They expect. What do they expect? Everything you have! They expect you to give! And they don't give a rat's rear end about doing something for it. Won't even try. At Vineyard there's a list of chores. I remember being the one trying to fill that list a while back. "No, I don't want to," was the answer I received the most. I came away from that experience fuming. But there's no consequence for it... and there lies the fundamental problem.

Yes, Christians, and I don't mean people like me who's first name it is, but you guys who pray to Jesus. Yes, you are mandated by God to help the poor... yes, give, do your Christian Duty, but damn it, do NOT enable people! Ever heard of tough love? Do a chore, or don't get fed! Do a chore or don't get a shower! Yes, I worry about bad behavior most of all... but I'm telling you, there's a way to change people's lives, and it's not by spoon feeding them...