Thursday, November 8, 2007

Homeless

Television-news told me today that almost 200,000 of the homeless citizens in the U.S. are veterans of the military. I think that approximately 25% of the homeless were in the military, whereas only about 14% of the population is composed of former military-veterans.

Almost all cities seem confused by "the homeless problem." When homeless persons establish encampments--under bridges, for example--cities ultimately disband them. But if the homeless congregate near businesses or homes, the police move them from there. Neighborhoods trying to improve themselves are not happy to see meal-distributors show up to feed the homeless because the homeless might bring other problems, like crime. A group for whom my wife and I make sandwiches ran into that problem; the police told them to stop distributing the sandwiches in a certain area of the city. The same goes for shelters: where should cities put them? Should there be shelters on military bases for veterans who are homeless?

The following poem is several years old and goes back to a period when many homeless persons were congregating in our city's main library:

Homeless Citizens in a Library

People have retreated

from the outside

of not having homes

to the inside of not

having homes. This

week that’s the public

library. Amongst books

and terminals, people

sit and lie, squat and

sleep. In bathroom stalls,

a few sell sex or chemicals.

Something needs to be

done about this problem.

Let’s run a keyword

search. Let’s look

for authors of this failure,

Let’s identify the complete

title of our responsibility.

Let’s use our library-cards

and borrow the brains, will,

and humanity to get these

people the help they need,

to get us

people the help we need.


Hans Ostrom

Copyright 2007 Hans Ostrom

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