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How American Homeless Stay Wired
theodp writes "San Franciscan Charles Pitts has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs a Yahoo forum, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. Nothing unusual, right? Except Pitts has been homeless for two years and manages this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge. Thanks to cheap computers, free Internet access and sheer determination, the WSJ reports that being homeless isn't stopping some from staying wired. 'You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper,' says Pitts. 'But you need the Internet.'"
I am not sure you realize how bad the "human resources" movement people are at finding talent that doesn't fit into a distinct mould. There are tons of good people out there who have true talent who can't get jobs because they don't strictly fit into some H.R. drone can't easily label them or because H.R. is playing games with H1-Bs or whatnot.
People like Charlie Pitts deserve chances. Not every homeless guy is the "bum" stereotype we see so much in our media, and many have genuine talents and can contribute a lot. It's just that we don't manage our available talents well in the US at all right now.
You have to realize that in most cases of homelessness, there are other factors. What I mean is that the situation isn't one of "Person lost their job, exhausted their savings, and was thrown out on the street." That is extremely rare. Not losing one's job and running out of money is rare, but that the immediate follow up is "and thrown out on the street."
In a lot of cases, the problem is substance abuse of some kind or another. Alcohol, illegal drugs, inhalants, whatever. The person has chosen their addiction over everything else, and thus their friends and family are sick of putting up with them. I mean someone can be a real good friend of yours, but if all they do is get drunk and damage your place, eventually you are probably going to throw them out. There are other causes too like mental illness, or simply being lazy to the point you find that not working and being homeless is easier.
If you look in to it you'll find that it is rather rare to see someone who is homeless 100% by circumstance. For most people, if life takes a shit on them, they have others they can go to for help. There is another compounding factor involved. Something that has either caused those that care about them to give up on them (like drugs) or something that has caused them to decide not to try and deal with the situation.
No I haven't. Addiction is a choice. I don't mean one chooses to become addicted, but one has to choose to stop. There is no forcing an addict off their addiction. They have to decide for themselves that there are things they want even more than satisfying their addiction. They then can choose to work to get better. I'm not claiming it is an easy choice to make, but it is a choice. An addict can choose to stop, or they can choose to continue. They can decide when the tradeoffs are too great, and they have to fight their addiction.
That is why it is often said that you have to "bottom out" before you can recover. What it means is that you have to get to the point that things have become so bad, you are now willing to try and do what it takes to quit. For different people this is at different levels so there isn't a "bottom" that all addicts hit. For some it might be much higher than others.
Homeless addicts, well they may not have a bottom. They may be the kind that no matter how bad things get, no matter how deep they go, they still will choose the addiction over recovery. There is nothing out there that they won't trade for their addiction.
Choosing your addiction is the easy choice, the path of least resistance, choosing to fight it is extremely hard (especially with some drugs) but make no mistake it IS a choice. A hard choice is still a choice. That's why you can provide love, support, and help for an addict you care about but you can't make them stop. They have to choose that themselves, and only then can it happen.