A THESIS ON THE CAREER HOMELESS. Pt. 3

Some among the ranks of the so-called career homeless sleep under overpasses or in tents. I led a Christian-based addictions group for two years. I will never forget one couple, in particular. She was an RN, and I have long since forgotten what he was; except lazy and painfully addicted. They had lived in a tent in a local campground for a few months; having done very much the same thing in another locality. Of course, I asked her why, with her nursing skills, “Margaret” insisted on catering to her husband’s abject lack of motivation to get better and seek employment. Well, she loved him, and for the moment, at least, that was enough reason to languish in a mosquito-ridden, claustrophobic canvass tent in the middle of a non-descript campground. (Did I mention I have some exposure to, and understanding of this topic? Well, I think I do).

And then you have the social service agencies which cater to the homeless, and from which they receive their sustenance. Soup kitchens and missions abound, especially throughout the larger cities of our nation. The Gospel is preached and stomachs are filled. And the Gospel is preached and stomachs are filled again… the next day.

And I am the first to admit, there’s no easy answers to the problem. Our Lord, Himself assured us, “The poor will always be with you.” (And always is a very long time, and Christ’ words almost seem to speak to the age-old genre I refer to as the “Career Homeless”).

And it is important to reiterate. I am all too aware that there are many deserving people on the streets who are trying to make their way back to function and financial security, and the stability which comes with a home and “three squares a day.”

And there can be little doubt, the career homeless and fraudsters among the bunch give the “upwardly mobile homeless” a bad name.

(to be continued)

By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 54. Copyright pending

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