I've been where some of these people are. I haven't been outright homeless and sleeping outdoors, but once upon a time I did have everything I own to fit basica

I've been where some of these people are. I haven't been outright homeless and sleeping outdoors, but once upon a time I did have everything I own to fit basically in the same area as half a mattress. In the town I was in at the time, the only comfort was that I knew were food and basic services were. You just don't up and leave those behind cause it "might" be easier elsewhere. In that kind of atmosphere, I used my school library to learn web programming as much as possible, since our CS class was only teaching basic C++ (PHP just reached 3.0), and somehow, I scraped together enough cash (mostly borrowed) to put up a small website. By some miracle, I found work as a designer and with the basics I learned on several forums and with my pirated copy of Photoshop 5, I slowly made enough cash to pay rent and finally move to some place to stretch my limbs out. It's a slow and painful transition that's impossible to do if you just "take their ambition somewhere else". No, I nurtured my ambition where I was until I could actually get somewhere else. Empathy is a terribly scarce commodity it seems.