Finally! Out come the torches and pitchforks!

[Jessy169]

17. Living in downtown Portland, OR

The "homeless" are everywhere. They are walking down the streets, sleeping in the parks and under bridges, rummaging the garbage bins, standing at the corners with "feed me" signs, leaving piles of trash and excrement wherever they go, they frequently smell horrific when they walk past with their glazed-over look. Get up close to one of the homeless and you realize that this person is homeless because in fact that person is mentally ill in most cases, and incapable of holding down a job or any role that requires a small portion of responsibility and dependability. They are America's outcasts, the unwanted, the ugly ducklings kicked out into the cold to scratch a living off of the waste piles or to more preferably, just die.

One problem that has been mentioned about homeless people is that the better you treat them, the more there will be. Homeless people in other states and other cities will flock to Portland once the word gets out that we treat them right.

The real issue is that our society, for whatever reason, either refuses or is incapable of providing adequate care for these outcasts.