Cardboard controversy
I spent seven years living under a bridge at Colonial and Amelia (“Locally made ‘Cardboard Stories’ homelessness video goes viral,” July 22, blogs.orlandoweekly.com). My favorite places were Parramore and Livingston because the crack was easy to find and purchase. I was homeless because crack cocaine was the most important thing in the world to me. Others are homeless because they are lazy. Most of these homeless are either crackheads or lazy and will rob you blind. BTW, I own a business, am married and have three children now. This isn’t because someone helped me for being homeless, it’s because I got off my lazy ass and quit smoking crack. I’d conservatively say that more than 50 percent of the homeless (and I know most of them personally!) are lazy, ignorant, criminal crackheads and will remain so no matter what you do. If you are homeless in America, then you are empty in the head.
Charles Allen, via orlandoweekly.com
God helps people who help themselves. I believe we need to be there to help, but I am also realistic enough to know that many don’t really want the help. Do you know how many times I have read the sign “will work for money/food,” and I have tried to either give them a job or food only to be laughed off? In my life, two people have actually taken the food – a poor woman in Mexico City with a child (leftover pizza) and two guys in New Orleans who ate half of a sandwich and the remaining part of my soda. I know two people that are homeless that continue to choose the lifestyle that does not move them ahead; neither is a crack addict nor has a mental disability. They really choose not to get a job or live on the “grid.” I support Habitat for Humanity because they have to help build the house they get versus just giving it without having a vested interest. I found the video interesting, but there is more to each of those stories. I am all for helping people when they are also choosing to help themselves.
Carina, via orlandoweekly.com
