A Place to Call Home?

I have never seen so many homeless crazy folks wandering around the city. Without sounding heartless (for I have sympathy for the fact that they are deprived of the basic right to shelter), I just can't get get my mind around this most obvious increase.

In fact, yesterday, just a block from where I work, 2 women were stabbed by a mentally ill, homeless man while they were waiting for the streetcar. Madness. WHERE can we actually be safe when victims are just choosen at random?

Nowhere.

I admit, I was a little hesitant leaving work yesterday. In fact, I was ready to whack the first white man I saw with a black hoody and blue jeans with the sharp part of my umbrella. By no means was this a funny situation.

It seems that Toronto has grown into a urban niche for many people who are dependent on hard drugs, such a meth, to convert on and pray on people--both mentally and physically. Is this an environment that we feel safe allowing our kids to walk home from school in? HELL NO. I am not trying to push the bias that all homeless people are mentailly ill, for this is far from the truth. However it seems that mental duress can be heightened by stress. These individuals are marked with the reminder of extreme stress everyday. Thus, it can be understood why their mental capacity declines rapidly.

On the other hand, I have little empathy for the abundeance of rude-ass street people. I can not walk down the street without some strange man staring at me, or whistling at me, like I am a peace of meat.

UGH.

Just yesterday, when I was taking my walk to the GO, I was followed for a block by a man. Maybe spend sometime trying to find a way to rise from hardship for survival, rather than making yourself appear as a distasteful victim.

Enough.

We NOW need to get aggressive about how we deal with this unfortunate reality. These individuals are the unlucky few, that continually slip through the cracks of our flawed systems. For too many, they are no ones.

I am not sure what I am to say that could make me feel more at ease about this current state of chaos. In fact, winter is always the most difficult time to see the homeless laying in bus stops, without any comfort of a place to call home. Not that it is EVER easy to see.

Hard drug abuse is a reality in the life of many of these neglected individuals, because it provides an escapism. We all need to getaway sometimes from the realities of life. We can empathize why these individuals would feel that need the strongest. But inevitably we all know that once we come down from that mushroom cloud, back to where we started. On our own feet.

We have no time to waste. This is a call to action, before things get any worse. This is our responsability. Love thy neighbour.

Please be safe.

TG