[explaininjs]

Homelessness is not a mental hell hole of despair, and claiming it is does more to dehumanize the homeless than anything.

Being in a mental hell hole of disparity is a mental hell hole of despair, but that can come with any profession at any position on the socioeconomic ladder.

(am homeless)

[evilos]

"Being homeless is not always bad!" is not a take I was expecting to see today.

I'd bet 99.99% of homeless people would extremely prefer not to be.

[aatd86]

Yes, strange. Homeless yet posting on hackernews is not what the vast majority of homeless people are doing I bet.

I've seen some people struggle and they didn't have that kind of leisure time.

Perhaps it's homeless as in not owning an address? Don't know. Can happen given rent prices... Been there.

[norgie]

Where is that in the parent comment?

[explaininjs]

Thanks for this. All I said is we don’t live in a deep hole of despair. Sure parts are bad, but I don’t know of anyone who lives with absolutely no bad in their life.

[6510]

Lots of wealthy people moan and whine all day long. It is arguably how one becomes wealthy. Lots of poor people are happy. It is arguably why they are poor. Life can hand you a good hand of cards or a bad one. Sure. How much that gets to you is up to you.

I talk with a dying man one time who worked in a hospital for dying people. He asked for me because he knew dying people had the best conversations with those they didn't know intimately. The one thing that stuck with me was the contrast between 2 types of people, one kind screams and cries for 2 weeks straight, day and night "I'M GOING TO DIE!!" the other kind talks about all of the great things they experienced in their lives. He remembered one specifically who smiled and said: "I had a great life" then turned over in his bed and was gone.

Before you can live in a deep hole of despair you first have to dig it yourself.

[CogitoCogito]

> I'd bet 99.99% of homeless people would extremely prefer not to be.

I’m curious what /u/explaininjs would have to say about this given he/she claims to be homeless.

[explaininjs]

The real percentage is far smaller. I suspect the parent has only encountered homeless beggars, in the context of being begged at. If that’s all you knew I could see how you might think they hate it.

In reality homeless place a higher value on personal freedom than most, and the absolute happiest people I’ve ever met were all homeless with no intention of being otherwise. For these, possessions often come from donations they receive from people they meet and develop real connections with.

[ransom1538]

"I suspect the parent has only encountered homeless beggars, in the context of being begged at."

Oh no. The complete opposite. I lived in SF 15 years, worked and talked to the homeless dozens of times. 99% [not mentally handicapped] are addicted to fentanyl, destroyed all their relationships, and are slowly dying. Trying to justify it as "freedom" is a bizarre comment. They tend to have ZERO freedom, trying to score another fix, in an endless loop - they have NO ability to do anything else. People in prison have more freedom IMHO. They need detox now.

[explaininjs]

SF is an exception. They’ve been grossly mismanaged for years. I wouldn’t touch it with a 10’ pole. The homeless there get government cash to buy drugs and government hotel rooms to use them in.

It’s expressly designed to select for the lowest common denominator, and it shouldn’t surprise anything that what they’ve received is exactly that.

Though the UC Berkeley girls are very friendly…

[red-iron-pine]

SF is no exception, and the "Berkeley girls are sluts" implication makes me wonder how homeless this poster is; reads like something a 60-year old former programmer with a grudge would say.

My wife works in the homeless shelter / battered woman shelter sphere, and depression, drug use, and misery is widespread. Many of her clients, after getting sober, are deeply isolated, and many have few skills, few friends, and terrible self-esteem. Many straight-up don't care if they die, and the only thing motivating them on the day-to-day is avoiding withdrawal.

This is nowhere near SF, but it's not like homelessness is magically different because you're in California.