Ok, I understand your disdain towards a child molester, but 'homeless' does not mean 'criminal'. I'm not saying it's ok for them to intimidate you in anyway, but demonising the poor is something that doesn't sit well with me.

I suppose these 'lowlifes' are drug addicts...more than likely, so. Drug addiction is not a crime, it's a disease, and should be treated that way. Being treated like a criminal is the reason why people often don't get the help they need.

I've been around addicts, the homeless, drunks, molesters, petty criminals, my entire life----and I've been a member of the lowerclass my entire life. I live in a rural ghetto, on public housing, have to go to the welfare office later today to update their help for my blood pressure medications.

the white trash poor I know hate various minorities, some can barely read or white, a few have had sex with mentally retarded women who don't know better, I was in the local mental ward with an addict who was stealing snacks from a woman dying of cancer.

should I go on about my politically incorrect life?

homeless CAN sometimes mean criminal---seeing how in 2006 a bad news drunk set on fire the place he was living in, in back of where I live, and then weeks later showed up to watch the place be repaired; I called the cops when he was ready to pass out drunk in my landlord's yard.

being drunk and/or taking drugs is a choice----and the addicts and drunks I've known are very violent about their choice, with one homeless drunk, supposedly, smashing a bottle over one of the welfare bums in town, causing him to be found dead in a river months later.

I, ALL ALONE, HAVING TO PUT UP WITH THIS, SHOULD BE A ADDICT OR ALCOHOLIC.

I also understand your attitude towards a child molester. I don't understand your attitude towards the homeless, alcoholics, and drug addicts. Yes, addicts choose to have a drink or take that hit but they don't choose to become addicted to it. That's where the disease comes in for some people. Do they also have a choice to decide to reach out and accept the help available? Sure. However this is a disease, just like any other, and should be treated with the same compassion and empathy as any other disease.

I would think that you, like myself and everyone else on this site who suffers with mental illness, would know what it's like to be judged, looked down upon, not accepted, nor understood by many people in our society. I don't understand how you can judge others the way you do when you know how it feels to have it done to you. Are YOU white trash because you're on welfare and live in public housing? Have you ever tried to talk to these people or do you just walk by clutching whatever you possess? Have YOU ever experienced how it felt when others step away from you when they know you're mentally ill? Of course I know that there are criminals and crimes happen, but you're grouping everyone together and judging them in whole.

I know that this is a site for support and understanding and we're asked to be supportive and kind to each other, but I had to voice my opinion on this post and trust me when I say that I was kind compared to all of the things I wanted to say to you. I find it HIGHLY offensive that you are posting such ignorance on this site which is dedicated to supporting each other and NOT JUDGING!! I find this post to be abusive. Do you know how many people who suffer with mental illness are also addicts? It's called dual diagnosis. Look it up sometime! I'll leave it at this. I will be checking back on this post to see if any CL has removed it. If this ignorance, which DOES effect the mentally ill as I stated, isn't removed then this isn't the place for me and I know others would agree with me.

Lala37,

my own parents were drunks----and they were very selfish about spending ALL their time and money on themselves, and their friends....while totally ignoring me, their only kid, who lived in their house, and spent ages 18 through 20 in a deep, reclusive, depression.

my drunken, worthless, selfish, dad killed himself----BECAUSE he could no longer be a big shot at work or church, when he became sick

when drunks, addicts, the homeless MAKE TROUBLE FOR OTHERS----then I have no pity, especially since I have to worry about leaving my apt with this bunch.

I HAVE RIGHTS TOO.

(screen shot against censorship; i'll make sure to take some screen shots)

it's depressing to put up with censorship----and the CONVICTED CRIMINALS in my neighborhood.

p.s.

I fully plan on contacting a civil rights lawyer and SUEING, for mental distress, if I get kicked off this site.

Penn, I am so sorry you live in an area that gives you much distress and where you cannot feel safe. I wish I had the means to make it better for you and for anyone else dealing with similar.

Please do not get defensive with what I am about to say, but I agree with the others that you should not judge the homeless. They are the members of society most in need, yet they are also the most persecuted. Many of them also have mental health issues, but are the victims of a broken system. They are too sick to care of themselves, but not sick enough to be hospitalized. So they get lost on the streets. Some are simply people who have lost their jobs and could not make ends meet. Imagine being in the shoes of a person who has lost their job and was forced to the streets and all they are met is with disdain or indifference from others. They are immediately written off as filthy bums who are addicts and criminals. They are also vunerable to other criminals who will assault them, steal from them, or sexual abuse them. How sad is that! If I was in their shoes I'd probably turn to drugs. Actually, no, I'd just end my life.

They are really no different than the homeless kitties you help. The homeless kitties are discarded by people who do not care. The homeless people are completely discarded by a society that does not care.

Many of the people that live around you have had just as tough lives as you. I'm sure many if not all have grown up in broken families with addicts or criminals. Many were probably abused physically and/or sexually. They grew up in poverty without hope and could not break the cycle. Heck even the child molestor was most likely molested as a child. Note I am not defending him. I would not want him near me either.

Many people who are addicts are people who have mental illness and use illegal drugs to self medicate. I am not excusing those who hurt others because of their addiction. But addicts are not inherently evil. Through my peer support I have met many people who suffer from mental illness. Almost all of them are recovering addicts. They are all just people like you and me that suffer and are just trying to make a better life from themselves.

Penn, no one is denying your rights or trying to remove you from this site. A lawyer will tell you to move on because it's just a disagreement in a opinion. Threats will not work here.

People are merely disagreeing with your opinion and trying to show you that these people are worthy of compassion just as you are. You can't complain about people judging you when you are doing the same thing to others. You have a huge heart and are better than this.

I probably should not reply. It is true that this person should be brought to justice-the molester.

Violence is nasty and I understand that.

My husband is a cook at a Church that feeds the homeless. Most of them are lively and creative where I live and many do paintings and stuff. Some are low life, but very few are. They line up to eat my husband's food and it is great.

But yes, sometimes on the street things get nasty and that is why the entire system is broken.

Hugs and I hope that your situation improves.
CH

again, it's not as though all the homeless who live above and below me in this building are bad news----but there are certainly are some....and those seem to confuse my being nice to them!, with weakness!

I was nice to this homeless convicted molester----which made him think I was some easy mark, LIKE A LITTLE KID?!

the homeless molester wanting to adopt the abandoned cat I was trying to capture----somebody on this site wrote to say maybe he wanted the cat to lure little kids.

I now have to worry about any one of these people hitting me in the face or burning this building down----not as though some drunk hasn't in the past hasnt hit me in the face, or somebody who was evicted from garage/cottage in back yard, in 2006, didn't burn it down.

everybody is pitiful----until they commit some crime.

Lala, this post should not be removed. I think it is a learning moment.

I think people are taking offense because you use the word homeless as a negative. But I think they fail to see that these particular homeless people, the people who are in your building, are registered sex offenders, thieves, and down right bad people. Them being homeless is not the issue. You have a lost history of being abused and harassed by these people. It's a small town, he knows exactly who these particular people are and what they do.

Everyone should stop focusing on the phrases Penn is using and pay attention to the fact that these people are bad people. All he's trying to do is rescue a injured cat that got abandoned. He doesn't deserve to be yelled at by a convicted child molester or anyone else.

Also, while I have empathy for those who suffer from addiction, not every addict deserves empathy or sympathy. Some people are just bad people, whether they are using drugs or drinking or totally sober. Just like being an addict shouldn't automatically mean someone is bad, it also shouldn't automatically mean they are just a poor chap down on their luck or suffering from a mental illness. You don't know them. Penn knows these people. I'm sure he wouldn't call them bad people if they weren't bad people.

What makes a person bad? We are all capable of good and bad. We have all done something "bad" in our lives. Should we all be forever defined by our mistakes and have the goodness ignored?

I think we all understand anger towards sex offenders and people who have done him wrong, but it's also wrong to lump people together and judge them all the same.

That's just it, I don't think he's lumping everyone together. He's not saying every homeless person in the world is bad or wrong. When he says homeless, he means these particular people that live in his building that harass him.

If I say "those stupid kids" it doesn't mean I hate all kids or think they are stupid. I'm referencing a particular group. People who don't know Penn might not realize that. He's talking about specific people.

And I mean "bad" by hurting others and abusing others with no remorse or empathy. There's a difference between going through a rough time in your life and accidentally hurting someone than robbing someone because it's fun for you or beating your kids because they were laughing too loud. Some people are just bad and wrong.

thank you, BlueYonderDreams,

anybody think it feels good for me to admit that all I've known my entire life are people who have had some sort of police record, or eternal lack of jobs.

there are lots of people in this town who give me dirty looks----cause I went through my phase with them 30 years ago, and they still behaving like bad news, with most of them having lots of friends and relatives, with me having nobody.

nobody but one cat, and the landlord who I have been grief to re all this, after 10 years of living in this apt with lots of street smart types giving nerdy, old, wearing glasses me.

I'm practically the only person on this block who wears glasses, with me even having met people who don't wear glasses BECAUSE of the clich of glasses don't go with some tough attitude.