Sometimes I have too much coffee and I...

We could solve the homeless problem in a week

If we wanted to do it

Probably the “hunger” crisis too

There are a hundred parking lots in Arkansas

Heck, if you look at a map of downtown Little Rock

The majority of space is parking lot

Every time someone buys a plot and piece of land with an old building on it

Their first thugh is to tear down the building, pave it and charge for parking

This is despite all the evidence that there are at least three parking spots for every downtown worker at the moment

Pine Bluff is worse

Or better for the idea, if you get the perspective

The old Bluff has a Main Street that is mostly facades

Meaning it’s the front of the building, sand-blasted smooth and painted and made pretty with a beautification grant

But no roof or interior as it has rotted away through decades of neglect

False fronts, like 99% of NGO’s

Beyond Main Street, Pine Bluff has destroyed and demolished all the buildings for blocks

It’s just lot after lot of flat concrete slabs

And what could be done with it?

A box

The size of a parking space or wide car so there are a few inches between them

With a door and a window and a skylight

Simple solar electric by way of a solar panel for an LED light or two

Big enough for a full size bed

A chair

Shelves on one wall to store stuff

Toilets and showers on a trailer at one end

Easy to hook up and haul away to clean with a second to replace it while the first is gone

And rules

But…

They’ve built homeless “villages” of tiny homes like this before

It’s supposed to make it simple to provide services

Like health and mental and counsel to seek drug treatment

Which are the two biggest problems in the homeless community

Crazy folks and addicts

Neither of which may not know they need help or want help

And a “safe” space to stay might create shanty towns

Where a good idea of getting folks under a roof and behind a door turns into drug dens

And easy places to go with a hooker

I think I’ve told you before every good idea in the world is ruined by “People”

Because People are the problem

Not even saying parking lot pods are a good idea

If they were, we could take a lot of roller vans

and convert them into “bedrooms” with the same concept

Give people a place to sleep

But then it might look like a really bad version of an RV park

And that’s probably the crux of the problem

We build homeless villages with cute little well designed tiny homes and gift them to the people who need them

Who then do not take care of them like we think they should

Litter and trash and crud and more turning once beautiful ideas into reality

I think about this a lot when I’m picking up after kids

Why they think it’s okay to just drop things on the floor and not pick up after themselves

Or when I pull into a parking lot where it’s easy to tell someone opened up their car door and slipped their fast food bag onto the asphalt

Or worse, I’m behind them at a light and watch them toss an empty cup out of the window

They don’t want their car to be trashy, so instead of waiting until they reach a garbage can

They mess it up for the rest of us

Which brings about one of the other problems of trying to fix society issues

Are “they” worth it?

Should you try to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved?

Or worse, someone too stupid to save?

Because let’s face it -

Addiction, in a lot of cases, is a choice

I know, that’s not popular to say, and it will piss a lot of addicts off because it robs them of the exuse they use to say “it’s not my fault”

Like opiods

“My doctor prescribed them and I didn’t know they were addictive!”

Except it’s made from opium and we’ve known for several hundred years that you can get addicted to opium

And we’ve known, at least since the 80’s when they used to tell us about drugs in school

Drugs are bad

All drugs are bad

Even the ones designed to be good for us

It is a chemical that goes into the bodyand alters chemistry

These are facts

This is known

So ANY choice to do a drug means a person CHOOSES

If you don’t want to end up in an alley on your knees doing things for a “hit”

Don’t do drugs

It really is that simple

Don’t want to be an alcoholic?

Don’t start drinking

Don’t want to be a drug addict?

Don’t do drugs

But… wait a minute, we don’t have a choice

My doctor prescribed or my mom and dad were addicts or alcoholics and I grew up a certain way

Or my husband is mean to me and I need a drink to relax

Or I just do it on weekends to relax

Or I got a prescription from a doctor to help with my stress

Or…

Or…

Or…

I know saying addiction is a choice goes against a lot of what people are taught to think

But knowing as we know, just how much the media is corrupted and lies, and is literally bought and paid for by drug companies

How can we not think that people are being manipulated toward addiction

Or maybe I’m being unreasonable

And people really don’t have a choice not to drink and not to do drugs

And I should just have empathy for them and allow them to do it on the sidewalks and the streets

Because they can’t help themselves

Or maybe I should get some lumber and build a prototype and park it in a parking lot just to show what might be done

It’s tough to balanc ewith empathy with reality and knowing that the issue is a lot more complicated than I make it out to be

Or can be

Doesn’t make it easy

Still… maybe if everybody had a place to sleep it might make a dent or a small step to start

And I think if we take that step or a step, at least we’ll know if it’s in the right direction

Which is all we can ever ask of any effort

Move forward, get after it and make corrections

At least that’s my idea

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