- Apr 13, 2006
- 29,647
- 16,823
- Country
- Canada
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- CA-Greens
This story is actually a really wonderful feel good story about a woman who has been very generous with a homeless person; allowing him even to set up his tent in her backyard
Great story.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/backyard-tiny-home-kingston-homeless-1.6179272
But I want to discuss his situation specifically because I have seen many discussions about poverty and homelessness in North america on here where there is a misunderstanding of its causes and effects.
This dude;
1. Owned a gas station and was making 6 figures
2. Lost gas station.
3. Lost his partner
4. Overwhelmed with grief and with few supports, moved around.
5. Moved into a place that was unsafe with frequent threats of violence directed at him
6. Experienced homelessness to stay safer. Uses phrase "swallow his pride" to survive.
Sometime during steps 5 and 6 a person will begin to suffer from mental health effects (as noted in the article). And he's now in a position where he can never work a normal job because of it. His friend points out he is not a lazy person it's just that the type of work he can do is very very limited.
There are many people like him. And there are many people who are only a "you're fired" away from being there. At the same time poverty is often intergenerational where learned behaviours CAN induce poverty in the next generation.
I know we will never break the cycle of poverty. And that is because of the latter.
But that CANNOT be a reason to neglect the former. We have to find a way to treat the poor with graciousness as servants. We are called to do that on a personal level. But for some reason the thought doing it through tax dollars is objectionable to some.
Why is only one kind of compassion necessary?
Great story.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/backyard-tiny-home-kingston-homeless-1.6179272
But I want to discuss his situation specifically because I have seen many discussions about poverty and homelessness in North america on here where there is a misunderstanding of its causes and effects.
This dude;
1. Owned a gas station and was making 6 figures
2. Lost gas station.
3. Lost his partner
4. Overwhelmed with grief and with few supports, moved around.
5. Moved into a place that was unsafe with frequent threats of violence directed at him
6. Experienced homelessness to stay safer. Uses phrase "swallow his pride" to survive.
Sometime during steps 5 and 6 a person will begin to suffer from mental health effects (as noted in the article). And he's now in a position where he can never work a normal job because of it. His friend points out he is not a lazy person it's just that the type of work he can do is very very limited.
There are many people like him. And there are many people who are only a "you're fired" away from being there. At the same time poverty is often intergenerational where learned behaviours CAN induce poverty in the next generation.
I know we will never break the cycle of poverty. And that is because of the latter.
But that CANNOT be a reason to neglect the former. We have to find a way to treat the poor with graciousness as servants. We are called to do that on a personal level. But for some reason the thought doing it through tax dollars is objectionable to some.
Why is only one kind of compassion necessary?
