Weird People

I don't go downtown much because it pretty well intimidates me.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that the downtown area of my city is chock full of very strange people who meander around as though they don't know who or where they are.  I understand people like that are ill but it's that illness that worries me.  You know they don't think rationally and, because of that, might be dangerous.

When I drive through the downtown, I see drunks, street kids who may never be able to make a decent life for themselves, scary eyed people who appear to be looking for their next victim, and a whole host of others I'm not sure about.  It's enough to keep me from stepping out of my car and walking around.

When I was a young girl, the downtown wasn't the scary place it is now.  We had the odd street person but they were usually older men who had a drinking problem.  It seems like every year since, the downtown streets have been taken over by the lost souls of society and we've been told that's because their social service offices and food pantries are all downtown.  

Our society is definitely changing for the worse if we've managed to increase the outcast population to the point where the regular citizens are afraid to shop in the downtown area.  I'm not sure what can be done to help take these people off the streets and send them in a more suitable direction.  Most of the teens can still be saved if they haven't succumbed to the drug culture and that's where I think social services should concentrate their limited resources.

Kim and I were driving through the downtown the other day and I watched a filthy old man with long, straggly grey hair weaving along the street seemingly not knowing where he was going.  He passed a restaurant and then turned, staggered back and into it.  This is not a restaurant I would ever eat in because no-one wants that kind of character stumbling around when they're eating.  Sounds cold?  Maybe, but I'll bet many people feel as I do.  I want cleanliness and safety in every establishment I enter, otherwise I'd stay home.

I look on that raggedy old man as one who is lost for good but the street teens are a different matter.  No-one knows why these teens feel safer on the streets doing nothing with their days rather than staying at home and finishing school.  No-one knows what has gone on behind the family doors so it's foolish to judge.  I believe the teens can be directed into a better life as long as they aren't drug addicts.  Some of them can overcome the drugs but, by taking drugs, a teen might not have the strength and clarity of mind to drag himself/herself up and out of the mire.

I've come to the conclusion that what we see in the main intersection of any city represents how our society has risen or fallen.  Mine appears to have fallen sharply since I was young.