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Perhaps Americans can take some cues from more collectivist, family oriented cultures now. In my culture, sleeping on the street when your sister has her own pl
by joonix 14y ago
Perhaps Americans can take some cues from more collectivist, family oriented cultures now. In my culture, sleeping on the street when your sister has her own place and a couch would be unheard of. I don't care how imposing it would be or how small my own home is, I wouldn't let my brother sleep on the streets. And what about parents? Uncles?
I do respect the struggle and pull yourself up mentality, but that's a lot easier to do when you have an address, a safe place to sleep and a shower. We have to face the reality that there are economic factors at play here, and it's not always someone's own fault if they are down on their luck in finding work.
- zem 14y agoyeah, that kind of shocked me too. no matter how poor i was, if i had a roof over my head and one of my relatives did not, i'd find a way for them to stay with me.
- mgkimsal 14y agoEven if they were a convicted pedophile and you had small children in the house? That was a situation a friend of mine faced recently. Oddly enough, it was similar to a situation another friend's family faced 20 years ago (minus the conviction).
- zem 14y agothat's definitely a hard situation to be in, but it's an outlier.
- ladzoppelin 14y agoMost people in this country agree with you and probably even have somebody to lean on in a situation like this however most does not mean everyone. The person in the article probably did not want to get into the real reason which is why his explanation seems strange. I feel really bad for this person and hope he at least finds a way off the streets.
- Wingman4l7 14y agoOne of the NYTimes commenters made a good counterpoint to this: just because you have family with a home does not mean moving in with them is a viable option -- said family may be drug addicts, violent, mentally ill, abusive, or manipulative. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/since-recession-more-young-americans-are-homeless.html?comments#permid=13:2 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/since-recession-more-yo...
- dclusin 14y agoAs someone with an older sibling who meets 4 of the 5 aforementioned criteria I can confirm that no it is not always that easy. Giving him a place on my floor wouldn't really do anything to improve his circumstances or outcome. What makes me the saddest is the realization that more than likely I will end up burying him in less than 5 to 10 years time. That sounds like a rather callous thing to say, but after watching my parents spend upwards of $100k on treatment program after treatment program it seems like there isn't any other choice but let him figure it out on his own. He's pissed away every opportunity he's had his entire life and it's time for him to take ownership of his own life. Not expect someone to always come running with an open checkbook.
- Wingman4l7 14y agoI think that commenter meant that the family members with the home were the ones who had those problems (I've edited my comment to be clearer) -- but you raise a good point: sheltering a homeless family member with such problems wouldn't necessarily help them, and it may be significantly detrimental to your own situation.
- mynameishere 14y agoThe vast majority of people living on the streets have terrible mental illnesses and/or chemical dependencies. Please don't confuse storytime with data.
- calinet6 14y agoChiming in here, I'd never let my brother or any family member or friend sleep on the street or in a shelter. I think there are so many people in the US who agree with you. Part of it true, there is a broken culture here where the wrong things are valued. But there are islands of virtue we cling to.