a hard question you asked me, Ted. i wish i had someone to tell me the answer. i know there are many unfair things in this world but at the same time i don't think that a homeless person in San Francisco is happier than a homeless person in Petro.
does it matter because of what one dies: icy Siberian weather or desperation? what DOES matter though, is HOW: alone and despearte and angry with the world. please don't get this idea that these people are content, you are very much mistaken if you think so. i served as a volunteer with the disadvantaged for 3 years, i know it. i heard stories that would make your hair stand on its end. and other than that what kind of life is that when a young man can not invite the girl he likes out?
or when kids can not go to school because they do not have money for stationary and appropriate clothes? or when a 5-months pregnant woman comes to Soup Kitchen with her hair shaved off, all stinking of urine, nearly making everyone aroud her faint?
of course in a way if i were a homeless and i could choose i would better live in SF, that would at least spare me of the giant freeze burns on my face in winter. but it's all very sad anyway. the world is at its weird equilibrium of disbalance: a
very famous american actress has just bought a 4 million dollar house for her dog. a woman down the street that no one knows about can not afford buying a lip balm for her daughter. the thing is that i am ashamed to talk about it because words without actions are pathetic. and i really don't like being pathetic. but one thing i know for sure: if you yourself do at least one good thing for a person in need it would be a worthy response to the problem. every kind action gives way to new kind actions. you know it's the big snowball of life and relationships. it's truly up to each and every one of us to illumine the earth. to me the story of the woman from Ust-Kamenogorsk( a city of 350,000 in Eastern Kazakhstan) is a good proof of it.
Her 19 year old son had cancer and only an $ 80,000 operation could save his life. a hard thing to do with one's anual income of $ 1,500? what she did was she bought a telephone book for $5 and beginning with letter A started calling people
telling them what happened to her son. she was saying ' at least 10 tenge please ( 7 cents)'. can you imagine anyone saying 'no' when asked directly like that? and so her son lived.
but my best advice wouldn't be about money. do clothing drives if you have extra clothes ( i do, i am sure you too) or give them food to eat. i am really sorry we are not doing Soup Kitchen anymore. if there ever was a thing that made me feel worthwhile that was a thing that made me feel worthwile that was it.
does it matter because of what one dies: icy Siberian weather or desperation? what DOES matter though, is HOW: alone and despearte and angry with the world. please don't get this idea that these people are content, you are very much mistaken if you think so. i served as a volunteer with the disadvantaged for 3 years, i know it. i heard stories that would make your hair stand on its end. and other than that what kind of life is that when a young man can not invite the girl he likes out?
or when kids can not go to school because they do not have money for stationary and appropriate clothes? or when a 5-months pregnant woman comes to Soup Kitchen with her hair shaved off, all stinking of urine, nearly making everyone aroud her faint?
of course in a way if i were a homeless and i could choose i would better live in SF, that would at least spare me of the giant freeze burns on my face in winter. but it's all very sad anyway. the world is at its weird equilibrium of disbalance: a
very famous american actress has just bought a 4 million dollar house for her dog. a woman down the street that no one knows about can not afford buying a lip balm for her daughter. the thing is that i am ashamed to talk about it because words without actions are pathetic. and i really don't like being pathetic. but one thing i know for sure: if you yourself do at least one good thing for a person in need it would be a worthy response to the problem. every kind action gives way to new kind actions. you know it's the big snowball of life and relationships. it's truly up to each and every one of us to illumine the earth. to me the story of the woman from Ust-Kamenogorsk( a city of 350,000 in Eastern Kazakhstan) is a good proof of it.
Her 19 year old son had cancer and only an $ 80,000 operation could save his life. a hard thing to do with one's anual income of $ 1,500? what she did was she bought a telephone book for $5 and beginning with letter A started calling people
telling them what happened to her son. she was saying ' at least 10 tenge please ( 7 cents)'. can you imagine anyone saying 'no' when asked directly like that? and so her son lived.
but my best advice wouldn't be about money. do clothing drives if you have extra clothes ( i do, i am sure you too) or give them food to eat. i am really sorry we are not doing Soup Kitchen anymore. if there ever was a thing that made me feel worthwhile that was a thing that made me feel worthwile that was it.
posted by Diana Golikova @ 8:54 PM
2 Comments:
At 12:53 PM,
Ted said…
Well, you must understand, the homeless in SF are fortunate in many ways. They are fortunate enough not to always be desperate. For example, one night I was eating a cookie I bought and walking down the street. A homeless woman asked me for money and I didn't have any, so I offered her the rest of my cookie. She said "I don't like cookies." So I thought to myself, you must eat pretty well if you can say that about a piece of food, any food. But I agree, they are almost never content. But the ones here, like you said, don't get freeze burns. And they live among wealthy people who often give them money and food, so that's better than nothing.
But I would never say they are fortunate, rather I'd say the contrary.
At 10:23 AM,
Diana Golikova said…
i didn't want to sound like i know more than you do, Ted. but it's a miserable life, a life with no dreams. and may be in a way the homeless in teh states are those who don't want to work ( i think it impossible to not be able to find a job, any kind of job in teh states even if you have no higher eduaction) whereas here people would agree to do anything but there is nothing for them to do.
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