Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: nyu notesfiles V1.1 4/1/84; site rna.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!rna!serge From: serge@rna.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: How about helping our own Message-ID: <43000002@rna.UUCP> Date: Tue, 18-Dec-84 18:27:00 EST Article-I.D.: rna.43000002 Posted: Tue Dec 18 18:27:00 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 22-Dec-84 01:58:16 EST References: <709@loral.UUCP> Lines: 15 Nf-ID: #R:loral:-70900:rna:43000002:000:938 Nf-From: rna!serge Dec 19 18:27:00 1984 >And our street people. Sure, they exist. But there aren't that many of >them, not compared to the poor in other countries. But let's pick a random >street person: Johnny the crazy man, who can't keep a job because he >forgets he has one. Sending him food might help some, but Johnny's real >problem is not that he's hungry; it's that he's crazy. And no amount of >money in the world will change that. This may have been true in the past, but recent statistics indicate (as do my eyes as I walk around NYC) that more and more of the street people are NOT middle aged men and women who have flipped out on life. Many of these people are young men, usually black, who are completely sober and sane but cannot find work. They can be seen at any many street intersections begging to wipe the window of your car for a few pennies. Africa's problems are horrible but so are the problems that confront many disadvantaged Americans.