Well, Melinda, I don't want to scare you or anything!! At the time I was conceived my mother was still devoted to my father, so I don't think we are related, however. Maybe just kindred spirits.
My understanding of why there are so many people begging in San Francisco is that even though the benefits here are generous in comparison, they certainly aren't enough to cover alcohol and drugs and cigarettes as well as general day-to-day expenses. Living on the street is hard, cold, and boring, and most homeless people also have some kind of substance abuse problem. The rent on an average, plain, boring, box-like two-bedroom apartment here is $2003 a month right now. A couple of miscalculations, an unexpected job loss, an emotional problem or a messy separation, and most of the middle class here is a couple of months from the same predicament. Maybe the generally precarious nature of life here is part of what makes most San Franciscans pretty tolerant.
It is really sad to see people, even young ones, obviously close to death, living outside. Yesterday I saw a young woman who couldn't have been more than twenty who was starving and in the last stages of alcoholism. I would happily pay more taxes if they went towards addressing this human misery in a way that would get these people into some kind of warm and dry shelter, with nutritious food and treatment for their problems. It is very painful to watch. |
