4 ms·

I've had some truly fascinating (and heart-wrenching) conversations with homeless people just standing around on the BART. Sometimes people just start talking t

I've had some truly fascinating (and heart-wrenching) conversations with homeless people just standing around on the BART. Sometimes people just start talking to me. Even years later, I still remember many of those talks. It makes me so sad that we just discard these people, step over them, joke about the Tenderloin and refer to them as if they were trash, in one of the richest and most "liberal" cities in the world. Recently, I sat with a homeless woman who was mugged and beaten for her last remaining belongings. She cried because somebody had finally noticed her pain and helped her call an ambulance instead of standing on the opposite side of the platform. We have more resources than we know what to do with but can't even help people who are literally dying on our doorstep.

ryandrake 9y ago
> We have more resources than we know what to do with but can't even help people who are literally dying on our doorstep. Who's this "we?" The vast majority of people are barely getting by, and are a handful of missed paychecks away from poverty. The middle class is shrinking fast. There are a small number of people who "have more resources than they know what to do with". But, they're off yachting over to Belize to buy their fifth vacation home and figuring out how to shelter their wealth so their families remain perpetually among the elite. Ask them to fix homelessness--the rest of us are busy trying to survive. I'm tired of being asked to sacrifice while the ultra-rich are buying their pet dogs $20K diamond encrusted iPhones.