I love to watch an ER show on tv every nite, and I cried when I saw a story about a Vietnam Veteran who lived on the streets. He was a golf caddy, or something like that, homeless, and used the money he made to drink. He hurt himself, and the ambulance had to come get him. He said he had not eaten in 9 days. I CRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why are we letting this happen? It is not only the governments responsibility, it is ours too! Here are these men, suffering from PTSD, using alcohol to make the thoughts and visions go away, and we allow them to walk the streets? How did this happen? Why?
I will tell you one thing. I am ashamed. I am ashamed at our government and I am ashamed at myself. There is so many people who need help, and here I sit, fortunate enough to hold down a job, even though I am diagnosed with two mental health disorders, have a husband and a home, and a car with two dogs. I lack for nothing. I give thankx for everything. What a disgrace I am though, for not opening my eyes...
2006-08-29 13:19:46 · 4 answers · asked by rach_cast 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
smitten kitten---the show I saw was not made up of actors. trust me on this one. I do watch some that are. this one was not. and i agree with you, my question should have been, what are we doing to all the homeless veterans, single mothers, and mentally ill who are out on the streets. Thanks for opening up my eyes....
2006-08-29 13:36:15 · update #1
I agree. Why are we sending money overseas when we have our own homeless. This is all due to what was called de-institutionalization in the 80's. Many mental homes were closed, and the needy patients were just dumped on the streets. Sadly, the majority of our homeless have serious mental illnesses. Many others could be productive members of society if on the proper medication, yet they are too paranoid to seek help, or simply don't know how.
According to one study, 78% of homeless women have been raped MULTIPLE times...
2006-08-29 13:27:09 · answer #1 · answered by Shaken Not Stirred 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sweety, ER is a television show. The veteran you saw on that show was an actor. Now there is an enormous amount of homeless people who are veterans, but there's also an even more enormous number of homeless people who are schizophrenic or mentally disabled in some way. Anyway, the vets aren't even the biggest problem. And as long as they can prove that they are vets, there's a lot of help available to them. Most of the time, they don't seek help, because they don't want it.
2006-08-29 13:30:58 · answer #2 · answered by Smitten_Kitten 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If we cared about our veterans-then we wouldn't be sending them to rediculous ego driven wars like in the cesspool called Iraq.
2006-08-29 13:30:49 · answer #3 · answered by Villain 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's life, deal with it. Nobody really cares about other people. That's why it happens. Watch "Born on the Fourth of July" with Tom Cruise.
2006-08-29 13:26:12 · answer #4 · answered by Matt Beezy 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋