New life for homeless man | Odd Spot | BigPond News
Tuesday 26 February 2013
Sunday 24 February 2013
Literate but Homeless?
A popular politician recently said that education is the passport from poverty. Many popular press articles on adult literacy explicitly cite illiteracy as a cause of poverty. Unfortunately such assumptions have been nothing but erroneous and pervasive. Such reasoning only focuses attention and energy on illiteracy, instead of the circumstances which illiteracy flourishes. And it blames the victim.
But what happens when someone like the man in the picture stops us in our tracts? Do we reach a dead end? I have seen his man many times wandering through the streets, swearing at the wind, sleeping on the pavements and benches along his way. But one afternoon, I came across his reading this magazine, holding it upright, without glasses (how many of you are wearing glasses to read this right now? hmm.. myself included) And that's the problem with us! We train our perceptive powers into thinking that homelessness and illiteracy are a cause and effect relationship. However a more accurate description is CORRELATION. So bloggers, the next time we see someone socially displaced, let's not stigmatize. Give him/her a chance to be believed in. Let's remember this picture and give them a second thought. Let's not conclude that they are merely a victim of circumstance, but they are just like us....humans!
Monday 18 February 2013
Friday 15 February 2013
The man who CAN be moved...
They say a picture tells a thousand words. But some however asks a question, like this one. "What is the point of this picture?" On my commute from City Gate to the National Library I usually take the same route; up Fredrick Street and across Queen Street. On passing along Queen Street I always see a specific socially displaced, blind and begging from the pedestrians religiously sitting in a corner of a building, the corner in the picture. On this particular day I had a Digestive biscuit in my bag so I decided to save it for him to have. I went to have lunch, however I did not finish it so I decided I would give it to this faithful resident of Queen Street (and simultaneously thought "This is an epic pic for my blog!!!!") To my disappointment, I was greeted by the wrapping of the biscuit I had earlier given him, as seen in the picture. He was now gone... To where I have not a clue. Yes people...the man CAN be moved!!!
Sunday 10 February 2013
What do you have planned for today?
Just as an introductory picture, its a fore gleam of things to come. I took this picture as I was walking along a police station. Seeing these three men, early in the morning was a contrast to the bustling Croisee I'm accustomed to; adults dressed in their work attire, usually in a hurry to get to work and get their day started. I wonder what these men had planned for the day...
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