On Tue, 19 Apr 2005, spider wrote: > All the homeless bums had > taken to visiting the library from morning until closing time, and they > would shower at the sinks in the restrooms.
Yes, it's the same here in Finland, where it's bitterly cold in the winter and the shelters don't allow people to stay in during the daytime unless they're ill. On the plus side, if people are washing in the sinks it shows they want to keep clean but don't otherwise have access to the facilities for doing so. Also, here at least, it keeps the street alcoholics off the bottle for a time since they can't drink in the library and also keeps street noise and violence down for similar reasons. In the end, though, I wonder if city taxpayers might not benefit more if the town built a daytime shelter with shower and laundry facilities so people who have to walk around all day don't have to loiter in libraries, bus stations and the like. But it seems easier to treat the problem as "theirs" rather than one coming through a combination of unfortunate karma and co-dependent co-arising. The trouble with bums/alcoholics/junkies and the like, at least for me, is that once you get to know them individually--even superficially--you start seeing them as people, with happier pasts that somewhere along the line went off the rails. That makes it harder and harder to just stand by complaining about the nuisance. James ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It is easier than you think. Click Here to meet a Child you can help. http://us.click.yahoo.com/0Z9NuA/I_qJAA/i1hLAA/S27xlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration, Right Livelihood Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZenForum/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
