Spring Break
Abusing less fortunate becomes growing trend
Carrie Fitzsimmons
Issue date: 3/31/06 Section: Editorials
I never met Bruce Anderson, but his story will haunt me for the rest of my life. He died a lonely man without a home on a cold winter night. The cause was a result of freezing to death in below zero temperatures. After his death, questions started to arise, such as "Why did someone not seek him out or try to help him?" However, thousands of homeless men and women die every year from mistreatment and neglect. The sad part is, not a lot is being done to stop the abuse.
Recently, CNN reported that two men set a homeless man in Boston on fire while he was sleeping on a park bench in a neighborhood surrounded by bars. Since 2005, 73 homeless people have been assaulted and 13 have died. In January, two teenagers beat a Fort Lauderdale man to death. His death was caught on a surveillance camera, yet the teenagers who were seen beating him while he slept on a nearby park bench are pleading "not guilty."
The first question that pops into my head is "Why?". Why are homeless men and women being targeted? It's like certain individuals are picking the weakest in society to mistreat. Maybe it's because the attackers are so uncomfortable in their own miserable lives that they feel they have to abuse those who already lead such an unfortunate lifestyle. Maybe this is why cases of child abuse, spousal abuse and nursing home abuse are also so prevalent today.
In a very disturbing way, maybe we also play the role of abuser. Anderson's life could have been saved. He could have been helped, and instead of crawling into an abandoned house marked with no trespassing signs and sleeping on a cold floor in the dead of winter just to seek shelter, he could have had more time on this earth. Don't try to tell me that it's okay to devalue someone because they don't have a home or that we shouldn't take the time or initiative to care about a human being because they are less fortunate than we are.
"Homeless people are bums." You don't know how many times I have heard this statement and it makes me sick. Yes, there are a lot of homeless men and women in this country today who are drug addicts and who are mentally ill. However, it's not okay for them to be abused. It's not okay for someone to go and set them ablaze for the heck of it. It's not okay for them to be beaten over and over again with a baseball bat until they are found dead in a pool of their own blood. A life is a life, a human being with a soul, with feelings and with DNA.
Recently, CNN reported that two men set a homeless man in Boston on fire while he was sleeping on a park bench in a neighborhood surrounded by bars. Since 2005, 73 homeless people have been assaulted and 13 have died. In January, two teenagers beat a Fort Lauderdale man to death. His death was caught on a surveillance camera, yet the teenagers who were seen beating him while he slept on a nearby park bench are pleading "not guilty."
The first question that pops into my head is "Why?". Why are homeless men and women being targeted? It's like certain individuals are picking the weakest in society to mistreat. Maybe it's because the attackers are so uncomfortable in their own miserable lives that they feel they have to abuse those who already lead such an unfortunate lifestyle. Maybe this is why cases of child abuse, spousal abuse and nursing home abuse are also so prevalent today.
In a very disturbing way, maybe we also play the role of abuser. Anderson's life could have been saved. He could have been helped, and instead of crawling into an abandoned house marked with no trespassing signs and sleeping on a cold floor in the dead of winter just to seek shelter, he could have had more time on this earth. Don't try to tell me that it's okay to devalue someone because they don't have a home or that we shouldn't take the time or initiative to care about a human being because they are less fortunate than we are.
"Homeless people are bums." You don't know how many times I have heard this statement and it makes me sick. Yes, there are a lot of homeless men and women in this country today who are drug addicts and who are mentally ill. However, it's not okay for them to be abused. It's not okay for someone to go and set them ablaze for the heck of it. It's not okay for them to be beaten over and over again with a baseball bat until they are found dead in a pool of their own blood. A life is a life, a human being with a soul, with feelings and with DNA.
