--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > "> Sure, Judy, and the fact that a number of people living > > > on top of grates in DC say they like "their neighborhoods" > > > must mean they're not homeless either, right? You just > > > can't give up on your fantasies." > > > > I think the exemption only extends to guys who claim to have a > > connection with God. Those homeless guys are the saints that we > > should think of differently. Here in DC that is about one out > > of three guys on the street. In fact I handed a George Washington > > to a guy the other day who was quoting the Bible so convincingly > > I almost let him put his hand on my head to save me. > > Maybe you should have let him. > > I'm just fascinated by the nearsightedness of this > perspective and the extremely selective way you > pick and choose the evidence for it. > > How many of these homeless guys, if you plucked > them off the street, dressed them up in robes, > gave them a fancy house with lots of servants, > and appointed them the leader of, say, a prominent > Christian denomination, would actually end up > fulfilling the expectations for a person in such a > position?
MANY of them. Judy, I have to say that it doesn't sound as if you've ever actually talked to very many homeless people. If you had I don't think you'd say the things you said above. Like Curtis, I've met and had long conver- sations with a number of homeless people, ANY of whom could pull off what you suggest above (becoming Pat Robertson), and without breaking a sweat doing it. There is as wide a range of human beings and human characteristics among the homeless as there is among the...uh...homed. It's yer classic bell curve. And at both ends and in the middle of that curve there are remarkable people. I've met former Catholic priests who are now homeless, and ministers (lots! of ministers...I wonder what that says?) and guys who have never read a spiritual book in their lives, yet who were among the most spiritual people I've met on this planet. Before you go spoutin' off about the homeless, Judy, I'd advise gettin' out and *meeting* a few more of them. It's a crapshoot. You might run into a crazy or a drunk or a criminal on the run or you might just run into the Buddha. But then you could just as easily run into all these people in the poshest neighborhood in New Jersey.
