How about if not helped rather than “not stopped”. What a sad analogy you make comparing a person to cockroaches.

I wonder how many of you will be in church tomorrow pretending to be Christians. WWJD

Hard to say, after all, wasn't he one of the homeless??????

I would expect them to apply for some of the many job openings available and get a job so they can provide for themselves. Work is a four letter word and it’s not typically fun, but we all did it because that’s what responsibility people do.

They will call you at 3 in the morning to tell you your garage door is open, so they do that.

:coolsmiley:

Thank u. What u said is true. On judgement day they will have to answer for their action.

Very true. It is a choice, and it is a choice easily made because WE, not they, pay for it.

Perhaps, rather than thinking about compassion, we should be thinking about "tough love"--which I believe is really more compassionate than handing out freebies. As I've posted before I've asked my wife what the welfare system was in Thailand, and her reply "simple. If you don't work, you don't eat" has a lot of both wisdom and truth in it. Of course there are homeless people who are in the situation they're in because of mental illness, and they should receive treatment on our dime, but of the rest, how many would remain homeless if they had to choose between starving or actually working? Not many.

It has been done before. There were many homeless in America in the dust-bowl days of the 1930's. Not by choice; many forced off their land. Many gravitated toward the Hoovervilles that sprang up near the larger cities. I recall Dad talking about it: the government did what it could, instituting programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and other like programs which were essentially make-work programs providing minimal wages and basic accommodations for manual labor. But along with the pay and accommodations it gave these men a sense of self-worth; rather than begging or stealing they were getting paid for actually accomplishing something. They could have hung out in the Hoovervilles and eaten thin soup at various soup kitchens, but they didn't. The hardship suffered in the depression days gave birth to what we today call The Greatest Generation.

Are we really doing these homeless a favor by enabling them? Not really. I think the tough love route would have MUCH better results.

We have a few bleeding hearts that want to turn a blind eye to existing laws and support homelessness within TV. Remember, most of homeless are young able-bodied men who have made that choice. There are plenty of shelters with a warm bed, food and showers, that most refuse to go to. Giving aid to the homeless only enables them and actually increases homelessness. We absolutely need to show compassion and give aid to the truly needy, but we need to do so through charitable organizations and not give handouts to vagrants. We also need to enforce existing laws about vagrancy, loitering, and illegal panhandling and encampments.

Yeah, ok. Let’s just wait awhile. Oh, and does anyone out there with an extra bedroom willing to put up a couple of the homeless for a few nights???

Funny, there was (maybe still is) a guy named Dennis who was in a movie about the Villages not too long ago. He lived in his van here in The Villages for years. Somebody would get him visitor passes every month. He used to hang out at the Hacienda Pool all day before it was razed. Then, he moved over to the Orange Blossom pool. He would regularly take showers at these locations. Maybe somebody has given these people at the dog park visitor passes.

Agreed.

Discussing this issue with my wife, she asked "when we provide food and other necessities to the homeless, are we doing that to help them? Or are we doing it to make OURSELVES feel good?" It is a valid question and one that should be considered. Her point was that merely providing "stuff" for them is nothing more than enabling them. It would be far more compassionate to motivate them to change their lives for the better rather than just continuing to wallow in it.

Can anyone spell E-N-A-B-L-I-N-G?????:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Touche
 

But the posters give at church so they are ok….

that guy openly admitted to being a leach, -on the prowl for some wealthy woman to 'take care of him.' @ least now you know who he is & can identify him.