Sunday, May 12All That Matters

I’m Not A Bum, I’m A Human Being

by 1997wickedboy


I’m Not A Bum, I’m A Human Being




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31 Comments

  • savrant

    Living in L.A changed my entire perspective on homelessness. I couldn’t believe the amount of suffering and disparity that was going on in one of the most wealthy cities in one of the most wealthy countries in the world. People with no access to water, food, or bathrooms drinking condensation dripping off an AC unit, people sleeping in dumpsters and bushes, a guy with no legs pushing himself on a pallet with office chair wheels, and everyone just walks by these people like they aren’t even there. Like they’re invisible.

    Those memories will haunt me for the rest of my days. As well as the feeling of being overwhelmingly powerless to do anything.

    Reply
  • Ppubs

    Yes…That is a correct, a bum is a human being. I think I’m starting to see why you’re in this situation now. Personally I find it much kinder than calling you a leech, drug addict, begger, lowlife, useless.

    Edit: I’m not harmed by your insults, I’m stating an obvious fact, if you are triggered by reality that is a you problem. You can’t disprove what I’m saying so instead you get emotional and bully me, it’s truly sad.

    Reply
  • WillFuckForTaterTots

    I wish I was rich so I could give guys like this a lot of money. There are certain homeless people that I can just tell that deep down they want to be better. Damn I hope this guy makes it.

    Reply
  • extropia

    I can’t always help the homeless, and when I do it’s usually as a donation to a local shelter or kitchen, but I try to at least acknowledge them and reply to them whenever they ask for money. Even if it’s just a “I’m sorry sir I can’t right now”. I think the dehumanizing aspect affects not just them, but the ones ignoring them as well.

    Reply
  • KGhaleon

    People who think the homeless can be helped have never lived in a big city.

    So many times I’d go out of my way to give them money, buy them a sandwich, let them use my phone, etc and they would find some way to take advantage of you. You can never give them enough.

    Reply
  • slappednipple

    This is the one guy who I really wanted some kinda go fund me setup to help him get a better life. Did anyone do anything for him in the end?

    Reply
  • the_wild_derp

    I know that everyone on the street isnt a bum, but some of them are. I have known two different people that ended up on the streets. One ended up there because of greedy family members and bad luck. They worked for a long time sleeping in their car and doing everything in their power to save up until they finally got an apartment again.

    The other came from a wealthy family, they dropped out of school and smoked pot every day, they threw away every chance given to them by their friends in family. At one point the only rule they were given was dont amoke pot in the house and they couldn’t even do that. When they were given jobs from friends they had they would quit in a few month because the thought the job was beneath them. Every act of kindness or charity was always squandered and all of the money they had went to pot and alcohol. Any mention of getting help was met with derision. They would take advantage of anyone that showed them kindness. Last i heard about them was they are now dealing with medical consequences of their actions as their liver is failing.

    I still try to believe that people are good and try to help when i can, but my bad experiences have made me weary of people trying to take advantage.

    Reply
  • Tobro

    Think of how many mentally ill and drug addicted people could receive treatment for the $60,000,000,000 dollars we’ve paid weapons manufacturers to send Ukraine guns/rockets in an unwinnable war that threatens to start WWIII. Priorities people!

    Reply
  • TheHeed97015

    I’m all for helping those that want help. There seem to be a few type of homeless. The drug addicted ones that can’t help themselves and just trying to get more smack. The mentally ill that scream and talk to trees. The down on their luck run of bad events type. And the type that want to be homeless for whatever reason. If you want help I’ll do what I can but I will not enable. I’ve always had a dream of being super wealthy and opening an apartment tower for all the homeless. You come in, have a place and address, but there are no drugs allowed. Everyone works on some part of the building whether it be the cafeteria or landscaping or maintenance. There would be treatment on site along with job placement. Once you get established outside of the building you move out. Realistically how much would that cost and how much would it help?

    Reply
  • hoeraufist

    I talk with homeless people pretty frequently. I’ve been working with them in some capacity since college. And this may sound cold, but they always have sob stories like this. There are a few, maybe 5% of the homeless population that are genuinely down on their luck and life has kicked their ass unfairly, but the vast, vast majority are their because they choose to be there. They either don’t wanna work or don’t wanna get clean. They’d prefer to sleep on the street and take your pity and charity than fix their lives.

    Reply
  • spaceblind88

    You can see the shame in his eyes. He doesn’t want to be doing this, but he can’t get beyond begging. It breaks my heart. He works harder than most but he cant catch a break. I think the world is a sick place

    Reply
  • Turdferguson586

    I wish I could help him. Mad respect to him. He may have lost some dignity but he keeps humanity higher than most of us.

    Reply
  • AnonymousUser132

    Things like this make me wonder how a person not addicted to drugs or mentally Ill could live on the streets while illegal immigrants can seem to prosper while having similar challenges.

    Reply
  • AlaWyrm

    Doesn’t matter how well off you think you are, the fact is, the vast majority of Americans are only a few paychecks away from being in his shoes. Most Americans couldn’t handle a $400 emergency without going broke. That is a problem. Some are self inflicted, some are not. We need to have more compassion for humanity and better saftey nets. When someone could easily go with one less extra home or yacht and instead put thousands in a home and offer them a fulfilling job and chooses not to, we have failed as a species. If nothing else, Covid-19 has taught us that.

    Lack of accessible mental healthcare is also part of the problem.

    I am glad I do what I do given I have worked to help those most in need for 23 years. That said, we could all do better as a society to help others.

    Reply
  • santichrist

    People dehumanize the homeless for many reasons and one of them is the fact people are loathed to consider that could ever be them, for many the homeless are a reminder of what they have and how they could easily have nothing by a stroke of bad luck

    For others they look down on the homeless because American culture and “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” bullshit has led to people to look at poverty and homelessness as the failure of the person, they’re druggies or “they just didn’t work hard enough” or they’re “lazy,” people think of being poor as a moral failure and it’s the individuals fault

    People usually don’t know or don’t want to know that almost half of the homeless people in America are employed, it’s just hard to have a place to live when prices keep going up thanks to nothing but greed, there isn’t a single state in this country where you can afford a one bedroom apartment on a minimum wage salary, that’s not a personal failing or a moral failure by individuals, that’s our society failing people and us not doing anything about it, that’s greed causing misery

    Reply
  • No-One-5172

    This is really sad. When thinking about misery, usually we immediately think about “3rd world countries” and famine.
    Homeless or guys like this, this the 4th world misery. Extremely poor people trying to survive just right among the richest.
    Human beings starving to death or from cold just in the middle of cities of millions of inhabitants, at the door of restaurants, in societies were 50% or more of the food ends up in the trash.

    Reply
  • Jaway66

    There are so many fucked up, selfish, hateful people in these comments. Housing is a goddamned human right. Live on the streets for one fucking day and maybe you can pontificate about how the homeless bring shit on themselves. Sincerely, fuck you.

    Reply
  • morreo

    I know the rooms he’s talking about on van Buren and Clark. A friend of mine (who now lives on my couch) lived there for about a year and a half before he lived with me. Its a men only place. On 1 side (which is cheaper and I assume this man is talking about) stuffs 9 people into the room. 3 triple bunk beds. There is a 1 foot gap between the ceiling and the next room that is blocked by chicken wire. My friend says they put the wire there because there were incidents of people from other rooms crawling into your room through that gap. Usually the trouble makers in the building are high on God knows what. With that being said, majority of the people there are just normal people trying to get from day to day

    On the other side are single rooms. About 8′ x 4′. That’s where my friend lived. The whole floor shares a bathroom with 1 toilet and 1 shower. It was actually cleaner than you would think but obviously worn down. The shitty part was the building was FILLED with roaches. I saw at least 3 everytime I went over for an hour or 2. Anyways, after a while, I was just like dude, you can’t live like this and invited him into my condo building with all sorts of amenities. Kind of puts a damper on my love life having a 60 year old man live on my couch but I think he appreciates it 😄

    Reply
  • boot20

    Many years ago, I lived in Oakland and we had a few resident homeless folks near my apartment building. One of them was super awesome and a really good guy. He was just dealing with some serious demons and there wasn’t much support for him in the mental health world and there really wasn’t great support for him past what the VA was already doing.

    We had a lot to talk about, because we both served, and we chatted for from time to time about things. I’d occasionally buy him food and water, which he was awesome enough to share among his little community. Anyway, one day, it was clear he wasn’t having a good day and there wasn’t much anyone could do as he needed serious mental help. He just seemed so broken. The cops, being cops, just beat the shit out of him, threw him in the back seat of their car and drove off. He was back a few days later, but he really seemed even more defeated with life.

    I moved shortly after that, and I have to wonder what ever happened with him.

    Reply
  • YeetYaga1

    This title is an example of a false dilemma logical fallacy. Just because you’re a human being doesn’t mean you ALSO can’t be a bum.

    Reply

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