• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Nature, Environment, History & Politics

The Valley Citizen

  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About
  • RSS Icon

Merry-go-Round of the Homeless

August 29, 2015 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

Hi-Tech Homeless Transport
Hi-Tech Homeless Transport

Right after this summer’s breakout of homelessness brought about protests from urban residents, Modesto’s street people were on the move. Pushing and pulling their shopping carts and bike-powered transport systems, they frequented corridors along many of Modesto’s traffic arteries, only to land on a spot where the police would show up and tell them to move on.

Modesto officials soon learned that rousting the homeless from parks and other public places was like trying to clear sand from the desert with a leaf blower. You might move things around for a while, but the dust has to settle somewhere.

Lately, as the homeless have settled back into the parks there’s been a saner effort to adjust to their presence. The police have begun enforcing a benign policy that gives people their rights but keeps drug dealers away.

And though it hasn’t been widely publicized, there was always a strong current of public sympathy for the plight of so many people without a place to go. Those who saw the homeless up close realized that a large percentage of them are seriously disabled in one way or another. While some have hit the streets only recently, others have been homeless for years, many for reasons beyond their control.

As early as the fifteenth century, people realized the need to institutionalize the insane and did so in London’s Bethlem Royal Hospital. The hospital soon acquired the nickname “Bedlam.”

Five hundred years later, authorities in the United States decided we should de-institutionalize the mentally ill. In effect, we moved them outside.

Now, anyone can visit America’s “Bedlam.” Its former patients are on the streets, in the parks, and along the rivers. It’s often said that if you’re not crazy when you become homeless, you soon will be.

Part of the problem is the close quarters with those who suffer mental illness. The simplest transactions and exchanges become elaborate rituals of madness, as do routine errands.

Anyone who’s ever tried to help a crazy person soon learns what it’s really like down the rabbit hole. And even the sanest people can go mad trying to manage without bathrooms, storage places, and transportation while simultaneously dealing with public scorn and contempt.

Something as simple as giving a homeless person a ride to pick up a prescription can turn into an odyssey almost as adventurous as the Greek classic. Many homeless have no identification, no credit, and no access to the restaurants, pharmacies, and retail stores from which they’ve been banned. Their attempts to deal with these barriers range from hilarious to heart-wrenching.

The upshot is a circuitous maze of stops, starts, and detours for the simplest errand. Wasted time and effort are givens. By the end of the day, so little is accomplished it’s no wonder the hole they’re in seems deeper than ever.

Then there are the druggies. By the time a user hits the street, he or she is usually either in need of long-term rehab or beyond recovery altogether. It then becomes anyone’s call whether addiction or mental illness is the real issue.

Homelessness is where family values and professional opinion meet addiction and schizophrenia head on and run whimpering away.

Those few homeless people who retain semblances of sanity and are somehow able to take care of themselves have long since given up on remedies sanctioned by government officials. They’ve tried to make it on their monthly allotments, tried to find jobs, tried social services, prescription drugs, and self-help panaceas, all to no avail.

They will readily agree with those who say homelessness is their own fault. That still leaves them on the merry-go-round of the homeless with nowhere to get off.

 

 

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Modesto homeless

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shirley Denney says

    August 29, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    I continue to agree with what you have written about our homeless population but I see nothing changing unless the powers that be decide to raise taxes to fund (re-open) state hospitals. You can’t have the milk unless you buy the cow.

    Reply
  2. Eric Caine says

    August 29, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    Couldn’t agree more Shirley. The anti-tax hysteria of the eighties had some bad consequences and the release of the mentally ill was one of them. Of course, there was also some bad professional judgment involved.

    Reply
  3. Brad Johnson says

    August 30, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    We should be fully funding public health care for all, treatment/support for homeless with a small cut to the military budget or a 2% ussery fee on wall street.
    The USA is one of the few 1st world countries that fails this test.
    We will need leadership not cheerleaders.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

So What if Romney Doesn?t Solve the ?Root Causes? of Poverty?
So What if Romney Doesn’t Solve the Root Causes of Poverty?
We handle problems all the time without dealing with their root causes.
nymag.com
The Facts of Life - The Bulwark
The Facts of Life – The Bulwark
My suggestion last week that perhaps the best way some of us who’ve been conservatives can now help the country is to help the Biden administration succeed, and help the Democratic party move to the center, seems to have stirred up a minor tempest in the conservative teapot. I asked whether one shouldn’t consider allying…
thebulwark.com
WSJ News Exclusive | Texas Electric Bills Were $28 Billion Higher Under Deregulation
WSJ News Exclusive | Texas Electric Bills Were $28 Billion Higher Under Deregulation
Texas’s deregulated electricity market left millions in the dark last week. For the past 20 years, its consumers have paid more for their electricity than state residents who are served by traditional utilities, a WSJ investigation found.
www.wsj.com
The making of Madison Cawthorn: How falsehoods helped propel the career of a new pro-Trump star of the far right
The making of Madison Cawthorn: How falsehoods helped propel the career of a new pro-Trump star of the far right
Cawthorn has emerged as one of the most visible figures among newly arrived House Republicans, who have promoted baseless assertions and pushed a radicalized ideology that has become a driving force in the GOP.
www.washingtonpost.com
Los Angeles Just Opened a Tiny Home Village for the Homeless
Los Angeles Just Opened a Tiny Home Village for the Homeless
The colorful community was built in just 13 weeks!
www.housebeautiful.com
California's coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: 'The devil is already here'
California’s coronavirus strain looks increasingly dangerous: ‘The devil is already here’
California’s coronavirus strain is more transmissible than its predecessors, is more resistant to vaccines and may cause more severe cases of COVID-19.
www.latimes.com
More Than 150 Biz Leaders Endorse Biden's Sweeping COVID Package
More Than 150 Biz Leaders Endorse Biden’s Sweeping COVID Package
More than 150 business leaders from various industries have signed a letter backing President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief…
talkingpointsmemo.com
Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP's voters
Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP’s voters
www.usatoday.com
The Christian Prophets Who Say Trump Is Coming Again
The Christian Prophets Who Say Trump Is Coming Again
In the growing community of charismatic Christian prophecy, faith in Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House is a new dividing line.
www.politico.com
AOC raises $1 million in Texas relief, heading to Houston as Ted Cruz douses Cancun flames
AOC raises $1 million in Texas relief, heading to Houston as Ted Cruz douses Cancun flames
The New York congresswoman said she would travel to Houston to highlight the problems faced by Texans hit by power outages and freezing weather.
www.newsweek.com
Rush Limbaugh Did His Best to Ruin America
Rush Limbaugh Did His Best to Ruin America
How the right-wing talk radio icon corrupted the Republican Party, spread hate, racism, and lies, and laid the groundwork for Trumpism
www.rollingstone.com
?I Don?t Trust the People Above Me?: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection
“I Don’t Trust the People Above Me”: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection
Interviews with 19 current and former officers show how failures of leadership and communication put hundreds of Capitol cops at risk and allowed rioters to get dangerously close to members of Congress.
www.propublica.org

Find us on Facebook

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design