7 Things No One Tells You About Being Homeless - Cracked.com

[Ace Acme]

31. Some homeless are stupid and/or lazy

Some are not. Some are mentally ill and so they're distracted a lot. It's hard to get stuff done when you're hearing voices all day berating you for every dumb thing you ever did in your life. Some are socially inept, some are highly skilled socially.

Some are subject to cyclical dysfunctionality--they'll be just fine 98% of the time but every few weeks they'll "go off" in a spell of aggression and unreason, so you understand why they can't keep a job or a relationship and why not even their own families will shelter them. And then they'll be just fine again.

In my home town, a survey found that the homeless had the exact same educational demographic as the housed residents--same proportion of highschool dropouts, college degrees, and advanced degrees. A lot of homeless PhDs! The common factor most conspicuous to me is a low tolerance for bullshit. And face it, getting along in modern society requires that we accept a whole lot of bullshit.