A THESIS ON THE CAREER HOMELESS. Pt. 5

Perhaps parochial and governmental service programs represent the likeliest way in which to separate the wheat from the weeds; the “upwardly mobile homeless” from the “career homeless.” Those who have every intention of doing better and getting better and those who have no intention of doing either.

I have always been skeptical of simply giving a helpless, hungry, homeless person something to eat and somewhere to stay for the night. And to do it again… the next day, (and the next).

There are programs out there, (though perhaps too few) which provide job skills training to the homeless, and provide them a place to live and food to eat while they are in training. Afterwards, they are afforded jobs requisite to their training, and placed in subsidized housing. And, of course, there are a diverse number of less structured programs in a given community which offer some semblance of the above; if only a ‘work by the hour’ or ‘live in a mission/work during the day’ protocol. There are social service programs which cater to the mentally ill homeless among us. Oft times, it lies with a friend or family member to take such a person in, and if need be, make the necessary arrangements to procure medical and monetary benefits on their behalf. For the aged person, once he or she has a permanent mailing address, he or she is eligible to receive their monthly Social Security benefits.

While I don’t have all the answers, I’m convinced that there are those individuals among us who have fallen onto hard times and who will not rest until they regain and re-assume the roles and responsibilities which they once knew and enjoyed. (And, to be sure, I understand there are some who inhabit our streets who have been irretrievably lost to their psychoses, and who, at this stage, no longer have the mentality to choose any other lifestyle than the one in which they presently exist).

However, I think more often than not, once the wherewithal arises to transcend the lifestyle, it doesn’t take all that long to determine whether the motivation exists, or whether that motivation will remain eternally dormant among the ranks of the career homeless.

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

If you wish to share, copy or save, please include this credit line. 

***********
If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015 and 2016, do the following:  

Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the right margin

Click on 2016 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "Children of a Lesser God" appears, click on the title. All of my 2016 blog titles will come up in the right margin