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I wrote a research paper last year on the homeless, and what made up this category of the American population. I was shocked, but not as shocked as I should have been. I knew that not all homeless people were drunks and drug addicts. My research proved that many of the homeless were made up of the mentally ill, those who did not have the means or resources to find long-term jobs, and those who just could not afford the rising costs of American living standards.

In the 1980's, Ronald Reagan decided to cut funding for many state-run mental hospitals, drug rehabilitation centers, and food stamps. All these led to the release of many mentally ill patients who did not have the means or the money to help themselves. Many of these mentally ill were Vietnam veterans. These people were not able to find jobs or keep them due to their illnesses, so how were they expected to find adequate housing?

That is not to say that there are homeless people out there who are homeless because of their many life choices. Some are drug addicts, but drug addiction can lead to types of mental unfitness which can eventually result in homelessness. Some homeless people are drunks, but again, this is an addiction which can eventually result in homelessness. Take, for example, a married man with a home. However, he has a terrible drinking problem. When his wife can take it no longer, they divorce. The divorce takes much of his money, and he can't afford any rents in the city. His depression leads him virtually immobile. He ends up in homelessness, but one can say that circumstances (or his choice?) led him to that path.

Some homeless people don't have mental illnesses or addictions. Can they just be plain lazy? Well, we can't ever be too hasty to answer that question. It's always better to try to put ourselves in those people's shoes, and try to take that question through their perspectives. With the American economy rapidly going downhill, can we really believe that these people are lazy, or that their precarious situations are the result of a bad economy? No one can really say. We can't blame someone for being homeless by calling them "lazy." It's unethical and morally wrong until we know all the facts.

When we see homeless people, there are usually three reactions: either we try to help them by giving them some form of money or food; we turn a blind eye; or we are in complete (or partial) disgust. But these are not the way to help these people. The only solution is to help those with mental illnesses and addictions by giving them the right resources to either cope with their mental illnesses or get out of their addictions. For those with no employment, there should be agencies set up to get those people jobs.

Pity or resentment are not solutions. Humanity and common sense, however, are.

Learn more about this author, Joan Inong.
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