An introduction to US Culture

[ngant17]

I live in Central Florida.
I took this picture on the way to work this morning.



It shows a homeless man, he sits here every day and every night
on a makeshift bench, his worldly possessions crammed inside
a shopping cart nearby. He appears to have become a part of the scenery now, not so much a human being anymore, but largely merged into the scenery with the street signs and the trees by the sidewalk.

He never seems to move, at least I never see him walk away from this spot. I see him on the way to work, and he is still there in the same
spot on the way back from work. This has been his home for almost a month that I know of.

No one cares. He is not the problem. We have greater priorites: to fight the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan so that our armies of homeless may continue to exist as objects on the side of the road.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Your pic doesn't show

and pic link doesn't work

[ngant17]

2. fixed link

sorry, edited post so the link should work, thanks for note.

[bluerum]

3. nope

[babylonsister]

4. Site currently unavailable. nt

[catnhatnh]

5. I read the post and saw the picture....

...what do you think about the picture you shot???

[ngant17]

6. another link for jpg

sorry, my geocities space is being onry and stingy with megabytes today, so try this alternate:



I got more MBytes to play with there.

anyway, I don't know what to think of him, he may be on the point of
dying. I suppose I could have stopped and talked to him, but what do you do from there? The problem of homelessness is much bigger than one person trying to solve it.

[ngant17]

7. there but for the grace of God go i?

That's essentially what my mother said when I showed the
picture to her. Most of us live paycheck to paycheck, I guess.

[gorbal]

8. You can take him home with you

That is what I used to do, when I didn't have a roomate. There were a few men who were too scary for me to even think of being alone with, but I have learned to ignore the paranoia of our modern conventional wisdom.

[anewdeal]

9. have you asked him why he doesn't move

I once knew a man who stood in the exact same spot for at least ten hours a day. I eventually asked him why and it was because that was the last spot he saw his son then years earlier.

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

10. He looks like he might be a Veteran

from the clothing he is wearing and the flag, you should approach him and ask him if he is a vet. I know the American Legion isn't thought of really highly at times on DU, but if he's a veteran you should contact them and they will help this guy get back on his feet.