Not what I said. I said ignoring injured homeless who turn out later to have been, say, hit by a car.
Sure, most people walk right past a homeless broken down drunk, passed out on the street, clothes soaked in urine, hasn't had a bath for days. If you try to help him he's likely to be disoriented and combative. Not all people, some are kinder and more compassionate than I am. But I used to work in what used to be the wino district in New Orleans and feel that, while passed out drunks are not dangerous if you leave them alone, it's better to stay away from them.
There are homeless shelters, nobody makes them live on the street, but shelters have rules and regulations. I don't believe you can get passing out drunk in a shelter.
If people would rather get passing out drunk and fall asleep in an alley, who can stop them? Only the police.
So, sometimes people just walk by a man who got hit by a car, or had a heart attack, or went into a diabetic coma, if they are in the wrong neighborhood, down where the drunkards roll. |
