Don't Feed The Homeless

When I read
[DEAD LINK]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070203/ap_on_re_us/do_not_feed_the_homeless_2

this article somehow I was reminded of John Stienbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." Could be because I just watched it this morning over at Linda's, but I think I would have thought of it anyway. I generally do think of "The Grapes of Wrath" when I hear of someone or some group coming down hard on folks who are down on their luck.

Now, before you say it, I know that some of the homeless are mentally ill or sick with some addiction, but I also know that many of them are just folks that have fallen on hard times. As the article pointed out, an increasing number of the homeless are children. Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" talks about the time he had to live in his car, that is very close to being homeless. The recent movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" was about a homeless man, who went on to make good. I realize that there are two sides to every story and I probably would not be excited if a bunch of Orlando's homeless moved into the vacant woods next to my house, but still, there seems to be something hard and cold hearted about an ordinance that denys charities the right to give food to homeless people.