Why are homeless people homeless?

[Elizabeth502]

Again, I agree with you. I lack the ability to be well versed with my thoughts right now. In fact, I am panicking tonight. I am using CAF to calm down.
If I may, I am a strong person, yet I am overwhelmed with my situation. I need to progress beyond to the ‘cure’ for my life. I cannot help it if all I can do is use bandages meanwhile. Especially if that is all I have the strength to do. I am grateful for my spring coat, but I am cold and anxious to be able to procure my own coats every season for the rest of my seasons. If my bones are chattering, I will not at all be thinking of the cure. It’s a double edged sword and I’d rather it not be…

I understand. I guess my point is that Both/And seems more responsible (on the part of the Church, who should be leading in this issue) than Either/Or. It is not inconsequential for others to help with daily needs; it is just incomplete, and I would prefer to see more assertiveness, initiative, creativity, cooperation, and persistence on the part of combined religious leaders. They are the conscience of society. That seems preferable than no particular dent being made in the homeless population, year after year. Let’s End Homelessness.

 

[cheezey]

I understand. I guess my point is that Both/And seems more responsible (on the part of the Church, who should be leading in this issue) than Either/Or. It is not inconsequential for others to help with daily needs; it is just incomplete, and I would prefer to see more assertiveness, initiative, creativity, cooperation, and persistence on the part of combined religious leaders. They are the conscience of society. That seems preferable than no particular dent being made in the homeless population, year after year. Let’s End Homelessness.

I am just stuck in the either/or section right now and I absolutely hate it. It is not necessary, I am grateful that it is not worse, I am grateful for the bandages, but it is still bad and surgery is needed. And it’s very cold…

Once again, I agree.
:clapping::clapping::clapping:

 

[johnnyc176]

Pastors and rabbis and imams should be on City boards and be at least an adjunct part of city councils to witness to the problem and to cooperate and pressure governments with greater budgets than they have, to form an alliance with religions not just to minister to the homeless but to liberate them from homelessness.

So call it a Homeless Agency or a Homeless Board. Shameful that in the richest nation on earth, in the 21st century, the problem is big enough that there should have to be such, but in many metropolitan areas in this country, it is warranted. Let’s call the truth what it is and not just expose it during holiday times or Lenten seasons.

Hi Liz…I really respect you as a poster on this forum and have learned much from you but whenever I hear suggestions about the government creating a new agency or commission or whatever I then have to wonder what amount of added tax the working middle class will be asked to pay. Admittedly I don’t have a solution but I do agree that faith based groups should be allowed to interact with all levels of goverments to find solutions. But it seems the government is the one applying the pressure to push religion out.

 

[epan]

Perhaps the OP could even reframe the question, “Why are so many people homeless now, compared to many decades ago?” (Forgive me, I’d obviously like to reframe it that way.)

It’s because a few decades ago, the cost of housing became artificially inflated due to a combination of speculative buying and irrational market forces. While undoubtedly housing has usually been, in the U.S., the single highest cost per month for any individual, it had not, until then, been so disproportionately expensive, relative to every other indispensable need. While the market has somewhat “corrected” for less demand and more supply, and less artificial (over)valuation, there is still a base value, especially in the locales perceived to be most “valuable” in which to live (regadless of how concretely “valuable” a particular abode is or is not, as an abode). So if a person has the bad luck to live in such a high-“value” location, and to be simultaneously out of work, the risk for homelessness is extremely high, especially in areas without also a lot of shared, safe housing options. (Rooms in houses, or rooming houses themselves.)

#2 is Employer Attitude, which means zero loyalty, zero notice for being laid off, and “at-will” employment. It’s brutal and inhumane, i.m.o. and in need of corrective regulation. It flies in the face of Catholic social justice.

#3 Extremely competitive job markets: Thiscan come into play in a Perfect Storm with #1 and #2 if you have the bad luck to be in a job market location which is saturated with overqualified people doing precisely (or nearly) your job. There are 2 or 3 such locations in the country: Washington D.C., the SF Bay Area, and I believe Seattle is third, but someone can correct me on that. It is not NY, by the way.

#4 Employer outsourcing

#5 Employer guerilla tactics, which means under-employment, often (no benefits), falsifying job interviews with promises of bonuses, benefits, raises, permanent status, etc. and then not following through when your cherised Bottom Line is not met.

#7 Under-regulation of Employment, and zero social aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer but have been wronged by broken promises, lack of supervisory oversight, etc.

The above help to account for a burgeoning homeless population since around 1985, changing the “face” of homelessness to include all kinds of non-mentally-ill and very skilled people. I personally have met plenty of these.

Got to run, but that’s it for starters.

Incredible. Did you read his post? He is concerned that he may become homeless. How could you blather like this to such a heartfelt question?

 

[TimeEntrance]

I’m going to state my opinion on here. One can take it for whatever they think it is worth. I’m well aware from having been on the internet over the years that both liberals and conservatives are equally inclined to be self righteous with respects to their holy ideological crusades. So, I’m used to online people develop disdain for me.

I’ve been homeless before but only for a very, very, brief time. Stayed down at the Mission here in Milwaukee. Back then it was a pretty grimy place. But a month or more ago I saw it on the news and it looked as if some interior improvements have been made on it.

My homelessness was a result of crack addiction. My mother told me I had to get out. And about 99% of the homeless people I met had substance addiction problems. Some that are homeless for years also develop mental health issues (lose their minds–talk to themselves walking down the street etc.).

Currently, I’m on a VA non-service connected pension. I fell like a king on it. Well… as time goes by not really. But I’m still very thankful for it. I also try to keep in mind it is tax payers funding it. So, in a way, that is one more thing that make me eventually want to succeed. I’d rather demonstrate the money was better spent in that way than incarcerating me in prison for 20 years or the rest of my life.

From my stand point America is tough in terms of competition for jobs. Especially in certain areas were there are a tiny ratio of job openings to unemployed. Much of the North side of Milwaukee is like that.

I also subscribe to the basic proposition in developmental economics that a country (or city too) needs to reinvest some of its national income (or city income) into its nation and people. Make them more productive workers through educational and technological upgrades.

But I also subscribe to the concept that each person has a personal responsibility to themselves as well. That can come in many forms. But a person has to seek their self improvement as well.

The hard truth is that the global economy is making life in developed nations like the U.S. even a tougher more competitively daunting place to live. But this is what our era was given (like the generations of Americans before the combustible engine or the antibiotic revolution). And one can only face the challenge head on. So, to be competitive one must develop their human capital. If your knowledge or skill becomes obsolete you must upgrade or switch to something else.

We may be limited by our time, money, energy, age or even starting point. I graduated high school in 1989. Certain things are largely out of practical grasp for me. It is unlikely I can obtain the degrees of M.D., D.D.S, and J.D. all in my life time. And if I miraculously did with miraculously approved loans how would I pay all the debt back?

So, one might have to set their sights lower if certain constraints make certain pursuits impractical.

But you still have to get up and put one foot in front of the other. If you fall down? Get back up. And get back up no matter how many times you fall down. If you lay down too long… you may never get back up. Or, if you do, it may be too late.

Personally, I thought CopticChristian’s advise in post #34 was pretty reasonable.

And we can’t blame everyone that has applied themselves well to a skilled trade, to acquiring a professional education as in medicine or law, or have been reliable workers at a company, for our own failures.

Or consider the Jesuits. It’s not about personal wealth but they still pursue self improvement.

As for a job that pays decently (not rich wages but you won’t go hungry and you’ll live materially dignified) and only requires about a years worth of education. My uncle has told me he’s signed up at community college for a 1 year program in that job that sticks tubes or needles (or whatever it is) in people going through dialysis. He told me some woman he knows that does it gets paid over $20 an hour. According to her they’ll start him off (in the Milwaukee region) at about $18 an hour. On off days they can go to a hospital and make $30 an hour she says.

And once you hook people up to the machines you sit down for about 4 hours and read a book or something.

Compare that to Medical Laboratory Scientists which takes a 4 year degree to become and has a fairly rigorous curriculum I’m told. They only start off with about $30,000 a year and have to do a lot of math and science on the job. And UW-Milwaukee offers a program but you’ll be $30,000 or more in student loan debt. If you go to Marquette for their MLS program then you’ll be in $100,000 or more in student debt.

But people still get up and do it. One of the lectures in my STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) class does that for a living. The field is in dire need of qualified applicants she told me. And if you’re like her you’ll sign up for a 1 semester course on the electron scanning microscope just by itself. Which costs you more money.

So, hell as a road to anywhere can be relative at times. For some… that one year course as a road to make $18 and $30 an hour to sit down and yap or read for 4 hours might seem like hell.

 

[Elizabeth502]

I’m used to online people develop disdain for me.

Well, I don’t have “disdain” for you.

And about 99% of the homeless people I met had substance addiction problems. Some that are homeless for years also develop mental health issues (lose their minds–talk to themselves walking down the street etc.).

One has to be very careful of generalizing. There often appears to be a high level of drug and mental health issues among the visible homeless. That’s because they are often literally on the street, and part of that is because they are somewhat disoriented as to time & place. However, the numbers of mentally normal homeless are probably hidden from the eyes of most of us in our routine travels. That’s because (a) they’re busy using acquired skills to look for work; they’re being productive & proactive; (b) they, often being from a group not used to homelessness is ashamed. The last thing they wouild do is make it apparent to the public that they are homeless!

(When middle-class folks are homeless, friends and family typically abandon them, because the thought that they are homeless is something that is received by themselves and by their peers as shameful & unacceptable. It “doesn’t happen” among well-educated, “nice” folk. That sense of shame ensures their invisbility.

From my stand point America is tough in terms of competition for jobs. Especially in certain areas were there are a tiny ratio of job openings to unemployed.

I also subscribe to basic proposition in developmental economics that a country (or city too) needs to reinvest some of its national income (or city income) into its nation and people. Make them more productive workers through educational and technological upgrades.

But I also subscribe to the concept that each person has a personal responsibility to themselves as well. That can come in many forms. But a person has to seek their self improvement as well.

I agree with the first two paragraphs of the three. I also don’t disagree with the third. However, given that the rapidly developing global economy is making certain jobs (and more of them) increasingly obsolete, I think a country has a responsibility to participate in that retraining, re-education, and re-orientation of the public. I think the country, for the sake of the economy & health/stability of society, needs to take some active steps to aid in the transition. It can be overwhelming, and without specific indicated paths, it’s natural just to send out 100 resumes/day and wonder why you’re not getting call-backs.

The hard truth is that the global economy is making life in developed nations like the U.S. even a tougher more competitively daunting place to live. But this is what our era was given (like the generations of Americans before the combustible engine or the antibiotic revolution). And one can only face the challenge head on. So, to be competitive one must develop their human capital. If your knowledge or skill becomes obsolete you must upgrade or switch to something else.

I think both business and the gov’t would do well to combine in analyzing what the near-term needs are, and how specific categories of workers can best apply their previous skills to new areas, as well as figuring out how to utilize effectively those whose training is too basic for an era of specialization and sophistication. And then to provide avenues for those and announcements about those, not just assume that people will figure it all out without some responsible leadership.
.

And we can’t blame everyone that has applied themselves well to a skilled trade, to a professional education like medicine or law, or have been reliable workers at a company for our own failures.

I certainly don’t! I feel fortunate that my particular professional expertise is in need right now. How long that will last, I don’t know. But I also don’t blame others who don’t happen to be filling a market need right now. For example, I have a brilliant friend who is highly technically skilled & educated, with formerly a 6-figure salary, who for various health reasons has not had steady work in quite some time. I guess you could describe her as the category of professional but re-entry. She is hardly a loser, and hardly doesn’t know where to turn to try to "reinvent herself,"but if she didn’t happen to be married to someone with personal wealth (and who is also in the professions), she might very well be homeless now, too!

 

[BarbG]

I live in San Francisco and we have many “homeless” people in our city – when I go downtown I’m sad because I’ve lived here all my life and I can remember when San Francisco was a beautiful city. Now there are many homeless laying around – sleeping – begging, etc., etc. There are many charitable organizations in the city that serve meals, etc., but the “homeless” are not interested – SAD!!!

 

[cheezey]

I’m going to state my opinion on here. One can take it for whatever they think it is worth.

I am grateful for my state aid. I went four months with only $0.17 to my name. I can at least buy a coffee and feign five minutes of normalcy a day. But I also appreciate that it is taxpayer’s money. I’d love to get out of this mess, but I just don’t see how it will happen.
Mental instabilities can result from long term unemployment, too. If there is too little reconciliation to my life, I really fear that I will lose it.
Yes, CopticChristian made some good points, with which I agree. But there are a lot of paralyzing fears that come with homelessness and its causes, which in turn can perpetuate the problems.

Good post, Time.

 

[cheezey]

That’s because (a) they’re busy using acquired skills to look for work; they’re being productive & proactive; (b) they, often being from a group not used to homelessness is ashamed. The last thing they wouild do is make it apparent to the public that they are homeless!

**(When middle-class folks are homeless, friends and family typically abandon them, because the thought that they are homeless is something that is received by themselves and by their peers as shameful & unacceptable. It “doesn’t happen” among well-educated, “nice” folk. That sense of shame ensures their invisbility.
**

I agree with the first two paragraphs of the three. I also don’t disagree with the third. However, given that the rapidly developing global economy is making certain jobs (and more of them) increasingly obsolete,** I think a country has a responsibility to participate in that retraining, re-education, and re-orientation of the public. I think the country, for the sake of the economy & health/stability of society, needs to take some active steps to aid in the transition. It can be overwhelming, and without specific indicated paths, it’s natural just to send out 100 resumes/day and wonder why you’re not getting call-backs.**

I think both business and the gov’t would do well to combine in analyzing what the near-term needs are, and how specific categories of workers can best apply their previous skills to new areas, as well as figuring out how to utilize effectively those whose training is too basic for an era of specialization and sophistication. And then to provide avenues for those and announcements about those, not just assume that people will figure it all out without some responsible leadership.

 

[TimeEntrance]

However, the numbers of mentally normal homeless…

I’m sure you didn’t mean it this way, but I had to literally laugh a bit, because I consider myself “mentally normal [homeless].” The brief moment I was on the street at least. And still “normal” now.

I think both business and the gov’t would do well to combine in analyzing what the near-term needs are, and how specific categories of workers can best apply their previous skills to new areas, as well as figuring out how to utilize effectively those whose training is too basic for an era of specialization and sophistication. And then to provide avenues for those and announcements about those, not just assume that people will figure it all out without some responsible leadership.

As manufacturing and other factory jobs left the Rust and Frost Belt cities (and even Western industrial town like Oakland, California) the tax base of the cities fell further and further. People make less money and pay less taxes. Especially if they don’t have a mortgage and don’t pay property tax.

So, these local governments have become more strapped for money. They still have to pay pensions and health care for retiring Baby Boomers that were city workers.

Who really has a lot more money to train workers they want are U.S. headquartered businesses that turn very large profits. That’s how most these brick and mortar companies built their businesses in cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit many decades ago. But that’s when you needed accountants, rail, the banks, and labor and everything else right by you or nearby regionally.

You don’t need that much any more with the internet age and global workforce. A Detroit is obsolete now. Technical instructions can be emailed to Mexico and Brazil and plant managers can pick up cellphones to talk with headquarters in the United States.

Engineers? It might be cheaper to flying in 4 from China than to pay 1 on the United States.

So, you’re going to be hard pressed to get businesses to pay for training whole workforces from the ground up. They don’t have the incentive. Largely, into the foreseeable future, so far as I can tell, this development of human capital will be left up to the individual. But he or she can be helped Federal loans and grants.
.

Cheezey, I don’t know your situation and my feet are not in your shoes. So, I try to temper my judgment. The only crosses I know are my own.

And people can face different challenges.

Robert Sock for instance, is an older man than myself and appears to have much more limited time (disability payment time frame and age wise) than I do. He also like does not have parents to fall back on like I do. I’m typing this right now from my parents home. I don’t have a computer at my apartment. I don’t have a computer at all. This is where I spend much of my time. I eat here frequently too. And I do a lot of my homework online from here. So, I have advantages others don’t.

But I guess my previous points were that no matter where one is in life they have to try and do something. Something rather than nothing.

Prayer helps too. I’m a firm believer that any effort (positive) I put in can be traced back to God as the ultimate cause. Through God’s grace. Without God’s grace no amount of enormous effort I put in will result in any good. I think total faith in God can result in financial windfalls of great amounts (even a lottery win) with no effort on the part of the person. None. The problem is my faith waivers and is not consistently that iron clad minute after minute or day after day. So, I have to labor for what I want in the future.

Peace.

 

[cheezey]

Cheezey, I don’t know your situation and my feet are not in your shoes. So, I try to temper my judgment. The only crosses I know are my own.

And people can face different challenges.

Let’s just say it’s a really tough situation and I am about to break. At least, that is how I feel.

Robert Sock for instance, is an older man than myself and appears to have much more limited time (disability payment time frame and age wise) than I do. He also like does not have parents to fall back on like I do. I’m typing this right now from my parents home. I don’t have a computer at my apartment. I don’t have a computer at all. This is where I spend much of my time. I eat here frequently too. And I do a lot of my homework online from here. So, I have advantages others don’t.

I am not a kid, either. I do not have my parents to fall back on. Emotionally, I need my mother, but…

But I guess my previous points were that no matter where one is in life they have to try and do something. Something rather than nothing.

But many are paralyzed. I feel this way, too. I need to remind myself that I have done a few things to help myself, but it nevers seems like enough, or more garbage gets tossed on to an already over piled plate.

Prayer helps too. I’m a firm believer that any effort (positive) I put in can be traced back to God as the ultimate cause. Through God’s grace. Without God’s grace no amount of enormous effort I put in will result in any good. I think total faith in God can result in financial windfalls of great amounts (even a lottery win) with no effort on the part of the person. None. The problem is my faith waivers and is not consistently that iron clad minute after minute or day after day. So, I have to labor for what I want in the future.
Peace.

It’s not so much that my faith waivers, so much as I do not know what to say or do anymore regarding prayer.
And no. I cannot keep up consistently, either. I am tired. I wish there could be resolution. It is just too painful, otherwise.
I can pray real easily for you though.

 

[ManOnFire]

That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard. I think that would get a person’s teeth punched out in Milwaukee.

No one needs you for menial labor. There are enough imported Mexicans that don’t speak English for that.

It also goes against basic economic principle that all employers reach a point where an additional (name removed by moderator)ut of labor actually reduces productivity and cuts into the profits of the company.

Employers are loving the abundant pool of applicants today. Principles of economics supports this. And when you have 5 openings at your company and 5,000 applicants you have your set of 5 that are your first choice, another set of 5 that are your second, and another set of 5 that are your third and so on.

The longer you stay unemployed the less likely your are to be hired. In fact some jobs and temp. services refuse to hire anyone that has been out of work for more than 6 months. One reason is its an employers paradise.

And if an employer can’t find good workers then maybe he or she is too incompetent at hiring or as a boss over all.

And if I’m a boss I don’t want anyone licking my boots. I also don’t want anyone my company can’t do without. If I absolutely need him or her it’s time for me to fire him or her. Unless I’m a very tiny company dependent on a very, very specialized skill few people like that person has. Other than that that person is withholding information, not team oriented, and trying to create more boot lickers around him or her rather than developing future capable leaders within the company or employees that can perform more than one task.

Weird? What’s so weird about being passionate about learning to do a job to the best of one’s ability in the manner that the employment decision maker (boss) wants it done??? Is there some other person whose opinion matters more than the employment decision maker?

Boot lickers? Is that what you thougth I meant? Really? Wow. You’re way, way off. Good bosses aren’t looking to feed their egos. Good bosses care about pleasing customers, which creates more customers, which creates more jobs, which creates more job security for those who are passionate about doing the job in a manner consistent with how the decision maker wants it done.

 

[Elizabeth502]

I’m sure you didn’t mean it this way, but I had to literally laugh a bit, because I consider myself “mentally normal [homeless].” The brief moment I was on the street at least. And still “normal” now.

If you were on the street “briefly,” then it is not likely that you were the highly-visible homeless, the majority of whom have some major psychological/social impairment that is not being treated and is debilitating. That’s what I meant. Those who don’t have those issues are not wandering around in the town square day after day, all day long. They may occasionally have to sleep outside somewhere, depending on their options, but they’re not likely to be idle and prominent to others.

local governments have become more strapped for money. They still have to pay pensions and health care for retiring Baby Boomers that were city workers.

I’m aware of the economics of it, TE. I’m talking about the morality of it. What you describe, above and below, is Social Darwinism and raw capitalism. If you think from a secular viewpoint that that’s all American institutions owe its citizens, I first of all disagree with you from a moral secular standpoint even. A democracy is a two-way street. Those in power have an elastic relationship with their citizens, and in order to ensure the health of the body politic and a constructive citizenry working toward a common good (not factional “goods”) the morality and practicality of it, both, suggests that the gov’t not abandon its citizens during times of change.

Who really has a lot more money to train workers they want are U.S. headquartered businesses that turn very large profits. That’s how most these brick and mortar companies built their businesses in cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Detroit many decades ago. But that’s when you needed accountants, rail, the banks, and labor and everything else right by you or nearby regionally.

You don’t need that much any more with the internet age and global workforce. A Detroit is obsolete now. Technical instructions can be emailed to Mexico and Brazil and plant managers can pick up cellphones to talk with headquarters in the United States.

Engineers? It might be cheaper to flying in 4 from China than to pay 1 on the United States.

So, you’re going to be hard pressed to get businesses to pay for training whole workforces from the ground up. They don’t have the incentive. Largely, into the foreseeable future, so far as I can tell, this development of human capital will be left up to the individual. But he or she can be helped Federal loans and grants.

The Faithful Catholic Citizen, according to the Bishops and the Vatican, is not content to live in such a world, but demands however he or she can, especially collectively, to develop the conscience of a government and the conscience of the business world. I’m far more aware of all these economic dynamics than you seem to understand, and I think the average Joe is aware of them, also.

Catholics should be campaigning for,and voting in candidates who support counter-incentives for business, and initiatives/projects for gov’ts to provide job information resources in this regard. Once one leaves the community of a high school or college, and has further left the work force, there is not always a clear path to redirect employment needs. It tends to be, for example, that private employment agencies are for those who can afford those. On the low end, gov’t-funded employment agencies (the very local or regional ones) tend to have strict requirements for eligibility, which means you’ve been out of work for quite some time. State-level employment agencies, such as the local arms of the Unemployment Agency offices, do exist, but I will tell you having recently visited these, that their understanding of the work force and the economics of it is frankly outdated. They mostly just post jobs, which are overwhelmingly for the poorly educated and low-skilled.

In this age of technology what would be helpful to the average Joe is for gov’ts and businesses to cooperate in an information coordination effort, so that workers could keep more abreast of how to modernize their skills, and universally available education and training for that would be possible to locate. The price of that could be a chunk of future income retrieved from the new job, just as traditional paid employment agencies have done (the employer paying a fee upfront to the agency; the agency acquiring the remaining fee for service from the employee after hiring).

I don’t want to live in a world of Social Darwinism, TE. My Catholic conscience finds that repugnant. Just to say that “it happens” is a cop out, imo.
.
[cont’d]

 

[Elizabeth502]

continuing…

Prayer helps too. I’m a firm believer that any effort (positive) I put in can be traced back to God as the ultimate cause. Through God’s grace. Without God’s grace no amount of enormous effort I put in will result in any good.

I do agree with that! I will tell you that I firmly believe that collective prayer has helped me in the employment search over the last 7 years – with its huge ups and downs and its corresponding catastrophes which I have not shared here. We all have our favorite Bible verses. Surely one of mine is, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” I credit the prayers of others, along with mine, in conquering what seemed like impossible odds.

Naturally we should not turn to God only in times of great need, but especially in times of great need: that is not the time to turn away, but to become even more diligent and faithful in our prayer. This is also why I believe strongly in initiatives which combine local gov’t with local business and local religious organizations. Some of the latter have job resources, and even though those are usually minimal & not terribly sophisticated, the morale-building in them is enormous, because it is a community and they are often praying for each other. The sense that one is alone is a terrible disincentive for most people.

I don’t want to live in a Darwinian world which resembles eighteenth century Europe, with the poor left to fend for themselves and dying young. Nothing is more anti-Gospel. We can’t seriously look ourselves in the mirror every morning and say that we shrug that off. But we’re headed toward that, later if not sooner, without building local community (gov’t/business/religion together) and broader community.

I think total faith in God can result in financial windfalls of great amounts (even a lottery win) with no effort on the part of the person. None. The problem is my faith waivers and is not consistently that iron clad minute after minute or day after day. So, I have to labor for what I want in the future.

I think that few of us have the ideal level of faith such that Jesus encouraged and the Saints modeled. It takes a lot of work. But I think that faith is enormously strengthened in community – whether privately with a few friends, or more publicly in a slightly larger environment such as church or faith-based social services. We draw our faith strength from one another! We are not meant to be islands. That’s also not the Gospel message.

 

[CopticChristian]

continuing…

I do agree with that! I will tell you that I firmly believe that collective prayer has helped me in the employment search over the last 7 years – with its huge ups and downs and its corresponding catastrophes which I have not shared here. We all have our favorite Bible verses. Surely one of mine is, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” I credit the prayers of others, along with mine, in conquering what seemed like impossible odds.

This is also why I believe strongly in initiatives which combine local gov’t with local business and local religious organizations. Some of the latter have job resources, and even though those are usually minimal & not terribly sophisticated, the morale-building in them is enormous, because it is a community and they are often praying for each other. The sense that one is alone is a terrible disincentive for most people.

I don’t want to live in a Darwinian world which resembles eighteenth century Europe, with the poor left to fend for themselves and dying young. Nothing is more anti-Gospel. We can’t seriously look ourselves in the mirror every morning and say that we shrug that off. But we’re headed toward that, later if not sooner, without building local community (gov’t/business/religion together) and broader community.

I think that few of us have the ideal level of faith such that Jesus encouraged and the Saints modeled. It takes a lot of work. But I think that faith is enormously strengthened in community – whether privately with a few friends, or more publicly in a slightly larger environment such as church or faith-based social services. We draw our faith strength from one another! We are not meant to be islands. That’s also not the Gospel message.

Elizabeth,

We learn from our experiences and this one causes me to reflect on my own…

Naturally we should not turn to God only in times of great need, but especially in times of great need: that is not the time to turn away, but to become even more diligent and faithful in our prayer.

How many of us turn to God only in great need. While in need, we are passionate in our pleas, dilligent in our requests, hopeful, faithful, and if we can once this situation is resolved take the time to capture the essence of the moments when things were not so good and use that same energy to show gratitude and praise…this may be part of what we learn…

 

[TimeEntrance]

ManOnFire, then I misinterpreted you.

Elizabeth, Darwinism is in large part a state of life. I’ve lost out in most American fields of competition from sexual selection to placement tests with mathematics to career to finance and social standing.

My experience with Americans is that the vast majority of them (at least 99.99%) have blamed me for my own ranking in the competitions of life. Liberal women and men in particular regard competition for mate and love an individual sport or individual competition. But for some reason think macro-collective collaboration ought be given to those underneath the alphas that have individually secured their own socio-economic rankings.

Being a member of Black-America and male I’m surrounded by other males my age that have felonies and are unemployed. I would say 70% to 90% of the Black-American males my age have felonies in areas of town I’m in. Which probably means most the black males in my city. And I would hazard a guess 50% to 70% of those black males in my age range are unemployed. Many of them have girlfriends and kids to be sure.

My feeling is this: either I sink or swim. And that’s my attitude for my future. Either I prove successful competitively or I fail. And I’m marking my path out in my own particular way, so, if I fail I only have myself to blame.

First on my list is obtaining a mixture of academic knowledge, professional standing, and above average financial income. Second, I may or may not want marriage. I have not decided on that yet. I may want celibacy. But if I do decide marriage is what I want then I focus my search outside of the United States.

Every American must secure their own future. America in large part is an individual sport. That’s how I feel.

As an aside: computer technology is even changing the landscape of formal education. I have a 4 credit science course that is really a 7 credit course in the amount of time,. energy, and homework required. I have had 3 credit college courses that 8th graders in Catholic schools could/can pass with A’s with medium level effort. These “credits” in universities in my opinion are now arbitrary. A professor with the aid of the internet can require online quizzes and online homework through McGraw-Hill and others pushing a 4 credit course to a 20 credit course load if they so desire. No need to correct anything at the computer programs do that in seconds. The TZ’s like decades ago can be burdened down with grading the typed papers.

My point here is that if the author of Talent is Overated was wrong about everything, he is right about at least one thing, each generation passing we are expected to be faster, stronger, better, smarter, to carry more and more and in a shorter amount of time.

My professor telling the younger students (I’m too old) that had complaint about the workload that they are right that they have to learn in 1 semester what took him 40 years to learn. I’m sure he was exaggerating with that to make a point. The point being that every generation is excepted to learn more in the same amount of time previous generations had to learn less.

But life is Darwinian. At least we got other conveniences today like air conditioning, cell phones, heated buses, microwaves, larger room apartments and homes, washing machines, and even computer keyboards with Microsoft Word. So, things get paradoxically easier too.

 

[Jimmygill88]

We are all three pay cheques away from homelessness

 

[cheezey]

We are all three pay cheques away from homelessness

Yes many are…
When and if I am more than a several pay cheques away from that I’d like to see your part of town.

 

[displaced1]

I work with the homeless. There are many reasons for it, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, estrangement from family and society. Usually a combination of these factors.

I disagree. Those reasons aren’t the whole story. I’m homeless right now because I couldn’t live in the apt I had anymore. I still haven’t found a new one to rent. The whole thing is getting very scary and I do not have any of the above problems. Lots of people don’t and even if they break the bank to stay in a cheap motel like I’m doing, they would still be considered homeless.

 

[Phil_Marinus]

I have a deep fear becoming homeless and I was wondering if it’s a reasonable possibility? Do devote Catholics ever become homeless?

Anyone and everyone could become homeless.. sometimes through stupidity ,

sometimes through plain bad luck… it’s not the fall that matters,
but rather how you get back up… and the lessons learnt,
and the admission of your own shortcomings…