ND, yup I can relate...
You know what one of the biggest things that really gets my goat, are self-righteous people who sit in judgement of that poor lady or man sitting on the street corner with severe alcohol dependency and pretty much no place to stay (other than shelters) and no one who really and truly cares about them. Some of them have dogs, which, like for us, provide them with probably the only companionship they have (I wrote earlier that "Dogs are man's best friend", and they truly are).
And I've often overheard these self-righteous ones, some were my working in my office, who would say something heartless like, "What's with that street guy/gal, he/she drinks all the money that people give him/her, what a waste, and now he/she has a dog, which he/she probably can't even take care of because he/she is too plastered to and spent all his/her money on booze." Meanwhile these self-righteous bastards go home to a nice house, with a wife/husband, maybe children and a dog, take trips every year and eat three square meals a day, and have money saved up for retirement and have friends. Totally the polar opposite of our poor alcoholic street person who happens to have a dog, the only true friend he/she can trust and receive affection from.
I didn't suffer these self-righteous and judgemental fools for more than a few minutes, and would absolutely let them have it. I would say something like, with everyone listening, "Who the hell are you to judge this person? Do you know why he/she is this way? It could be mental issues, a personal tragedy, a loss of a job or loved one or a thousand other very sad and unfortunate things that life throws at us. And why can't he/she have a dog, it is the only friend he/she has...and how the hell do you know if he/she does or does not feed this dog and treat it well. Truth be told, they do feed them very well and do take wonderful care of them."
These are plastic people with absolutely no clue of reality and a severe lack of compassion for their fellow man or woman.
And then, of course, I couldn't help myself, because that is just who I am, I would launch into a real swearing and name calling rant. Most of them, at least those with any real pride and sense of humility would shy away admitting their wrong perception of this poor unfortunate street person. Others maintained and defended their self-righteous stance. I often felt like just belting them, but of course you can't without getting into trouble, but that's pretty much what they deserved, a nice bloody nose.
Why am I bringing this up? It's because i am so so tired of heartless people in this world, in my city, who think of no one but themselves, and the world just seems to be growing them faster than you can count them. I wonder what they would do if someone close to them were to be one of these street people?
