Arien, you have a very unrealistic view of the homeless.
Oh really?
I remember standing there in the ABN AMRO bank in Schagen, when a homeless guy tried to open up a bank account, and I overheard the whole conversation from beginning to end, and basically, the woman behind the desk told him it was impossible for him to open up a bank account.
I remember being at the job centre a lot of times, looking for a job myself, and I remember a woman behind the desk finding it extremely funny that there were no jobs available for me at that time, and that I couldn't apply for wellfare. ''Too bad'', she said with a smile on her face.
I remember conversations with employers who told me they didn't have any jobs available at the moment, but I could see Polish people working at the very same company from out of my ******* window on the way back, or seeing an awful lot of cars with both Ukranian and Portuguese license plates outside!
I remember going out in Amsterdam, when a prostitute near Centraal asked me to call her mother for her, and if I could please pay for her ticket back home. (She was practically begging me!) I didn't have the money for her ticket, and I couldn't call her mother because she couldn't tell me the number. I told her to hop on the train, I said **** that ticket, and I'll make sure nobody will tell you to get off the train. She didn't want to come with me, because she didn't trust me.
Oh, and I remember staring at a gun in my face more than once, because you're right, not all the poor guys are begging or asking for it nicely!
I know there are programs, but it's not like this system or its personel will always be extremely helpful to you. (Quite the contrary!) Oh, and in some cases, you will have to take medication. (Which is very hard for people who don't have enough trust in people anymore!) Ofcourse you have the right to refuse medication, but if you refuse, they won't help you.
Civilians? Quite a few people will probably humiliate you, harrass you, or even worse.. I know that there are people out there who would even kill you when they think no one's looking. (Just like some soldiers from our army who were caught on tape when they were kicking a beggar to death, just for the hell of it!) I wonder what would've happened to these soldiers if they weren't caught on tape. Actually, I already know, they would've got on with their lives like nothing ever happened.
Glasses? I can see perfectly. Thanks.
That and Christmas movies will make you forget you wearing a rose colored glasses.
I've seen more **** than you ever will, and I've been humiliated by a lot of people myself, when all I really wanted was a job. Ofcourse, a lot of people will simply point out how lazy and worthless you are, but they don't really want to hear about all these employers who prefer foreigner workers because they're much cheaper, and because they know how to keep their mouth shut about their rights. (I call it modern-day slavery!) I guess that's also too hard to believe for you?
Go find some homeless people and meet them.
I won't even answer that.
Not for a minute do I believe your story about running across a sober, sane, homeless man
A guy, one year younger than me. I've met him on a Friday evening, just before 20:00 on Alkmaar Centraal. He was talking to himself, but he was sane enough. He told me that he had recieved mental care before, but according to him the medicines they gave him just made him worse. Why I say he was sane enough, is because he was completely aware of the fact that he had mental problems, and that he needed help. At first he seemed reluctant and perhaps even scared to talk to me, and he said he thought I would beat him up for a moment. (Which just shows you how these people get treated more often than not!)
that "did not smell" and bought coldcuts with your money while you walked away smiling and his life was changed forever... not for a minute.
I don't think he had been homeless that long really. His shoes were pretty new, and so were the rest of his clothes. (Just a bit dirty!) He wasn't drunk, and he wasn't a junkie. (I've seen enough junkies and alcoholics before, so I can tell the difference.) Oh, and about 20 people were there, some girls have seen me do it, and they've also seen how he walked across the street and bought exactly what I told you he bought.
But according to you, that's impossible. They all buy drugs, right? Oh, and the day I walked off was the day I've met him again. I've asked him for a cigarette on purpose, because I wanted to restore his sense of dignity.
By all means, keep telling yourself they're all chronically homeless if it makes you any happier, and please keep telling everyone how they're all junkies who are beyond help. I know there are a lot of people who are beyond help thank you very much, and I'm not a retard who believes everybody smells of roses, but I know that most homeless people will try anything to get off the street, and most of them actually succeed!
daklozenkrant.nl
I know you can't read it, but this is one of the magazines I've told you about earlier, that homeless people sell on the streets everywhere. In these papers, you can read all kinds of stories about homeless people who went to rehab, who gave up drinking, about people who had mental problems who went for help, women who got out of prostitution, etcetera! I buy these papers and magazines from homeless people regularly.
Boring, I know.
People make the "will work for food" signs because where I live, asking for money is illegal.
Which just shows you in what kind of society some of us really live in. It's illegal to ask for money. It's illegal to help someone. You'll have to excuse me, but I think it's really sad that so many people accept such rules.
