Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The strange collision of cultures



Thank you to Radish King for educating me about the terrible scourge of homelessness and mental illness that lives even behind the literal center of our government. I apologize for my previous flippant title. It was a scene that frankly shocked me, but that wasn't conveyed in my title.

8 comments:

  1. I wonder what they are discussing?

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  2. At least he looks like he's an entertaining sort! ;-)

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  3. they've probably never seen a beard quite like it.

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  4. There are a lot of homeless people living in the area behind the White House.

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  5. Maybe it's because I've been homeless that I find the word bum to be a sad and outdated perjorative that means a lazy or shiftless person, especially one who seeks to live solely by the support of others to be pretty much untrue. The people I know who are homeless are for the most part mentally ill some of them living in their cars because of financial ruin (at least in Seattle we have a lot of homeless) children who were thrown out of their homes or ran away because of bad circumstances. I don't think I've met a homeless person ever who was there because he or she wanted to be. It's not a choice a person makes. And trying to move through the murky waters of DSHS in order to get help especially when you're mentally ill is pretty much impossible which makes it easier on the government. But trust me this man isn't there to entertain the tourists and he's no bum.

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