First in the West-coast cities but now everywhere, we have a growing homeless population, and a large percentage of the homeless are people with debilitating mental illness who are not in a position to help themselves.
I think it is time we rethink the hands-off policy toward the insane which has been in effect since the mentally ill were turned out of public asylums in the 80s in order to close down those asylums to save the cost.
We now see on city streets the cost of not having publicly supported asylums for the insane. But are we going to do something about it — or just complain about having to step around the unsightly homeless?
I am a voracious reader and also enjoy writing. I often have a very different point of view than the popular one. I do see value in debate, and thought it might add to the public debate on controversial issues if I were to express my contrarian opinions. I also started keeping my poems recently (I've written little pieces my whole adult life but never kept any); and I've been a photographer now for over 25 years. So I will be adding an occasional poem and hopefully interesting photograph to the blog along the way, just to spice things up.
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