“What came first, the chicken or the egg,”
The mental illness or the homelessness?
Tell me, how many sane people
Have wound up on the streets,
Through no fault of their own,
Only to be driven mad by
Loss of dignity and looks of derision,
Sleep deprivation and hunger,
By nights below freezing,
By the drip, drip, drip of rain on the forehead,
You want to talk waterboarding?
Spare me your false outrage
When you speak about torture,
When Gitmo and Abu Ghraib
Look like the Park Plaza
To the guy shivering and starving on the corner
There’s a War going on alright
And Humanity is losing the fight
You know I’m beginning to think
It would be more humane to
Euthanize those that fall on misfortune
Than subject them to the cruel and unusual punishment
They are forced to endure at the hands of our apathy
Just remember my friend, you are one misstep,
One set of circumstance,
One twist of fate away
From joining those you sneer at and spit upon
Nobody choses to be homeless!
T J Therien
Inside The Poet's Mind 
wow, that poem was raw and really got me thinking
thank you very much… I was hoping it would make those that read it contemplate a moment what is going on in their own backyards… and the way we as a society treat those fallen on hard times…
yes, very true, i am starting volunteering and I believe systems set up even for volunteering has so much red tape it makes it slow and hard for people to get involved x
I think volunteering is very important… I have volunteered in Geriatric Hospitals, Food Banks and Soup Kitchens, but I think we have to start lobbying our politicians and force action at the government level… social illnesses should be treated like physical illnesses with the emphasis on prevention, early detection and treatment. People are always worried their taxes are going to go up, they are going to go up anyway, I would rather see the money go to social programs than to big business in the forms of tax breaks, besides in the end if we allow these problems to grow, they only cost more in the end, with the homeless for example we end up paying huge amount for medical because by the time they get treatment it is already too late and requires lengthy hospital stays…
you make a very good point and I agree. I have skillsets that I have offered over and over to this particular organisation, for instance they have not updated their Facebook since Sep last year, as it is an organisation for looking after the elderly they might presume they dont look at facebook but that doesn’t mean to say their family wont, their daughter their son who could be finding out about all the vital services they provide, quite frustrating really x
Reblogged this on Notes From The Margins and commented:
A poem on homelessness to share
ferocious piece
thank you Paul, I really do appreciate it