BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected] or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is in response to 'LETTER: Using ATMs a concern with homeless 'harassing the public',' published Dec. 24.
It's the season of giving and celebrating our relations, but some "haves" still feel the need to ostracize the "have nots." Awfully grinchy.
We have a problem Orillia, and it isn't homelessness. The citizens of Orillia that live without shelter are constantly being harassed by those that do.
It seems we forget ... again ... that being one of the "haves" means having a slew of entitlements that the "have nots" do not. For instance, the ability to get warm and comfortable, the ability to eat a nutritious meal, cozy on the couch in front of a movie, the ability to get in an argument and go to another room, or to get too drunk and pass out somewhere safe.
We get to sleep without anyone stepping over us and acting like we are dangerous for being asleep and warm. We get to sit with warm fingers at computers in order to complain about how all that we have isn't enough ... we need to also remove any visual or auditory display of people living outside, trying to survive. How can we enjoy our privileges if we have to bear witness to others who dare to not have shelter?
In the words of (letter writer) Phil Thompson, "What is happening today is not working and is not fair for the average good citizen to have to witness and endure." What isn't fair is that the average good citizen has to endure watching privileged folks acting inhumane towards those that aren't. It's tiring listening to all those with warm beds having the audacity to complain about someone who has no where to sleep but the bank floor.
Awfully grinchy of the general public. Perhaps the new year will bring a change of heart and an increase in compassionate care and generosity for our neighbours without shelter.
Valerie Kitchen
Orillia
