I used to pass through Penn Station twice every day for years. It's not unusual to see homeless people milling about, sitting, sleeping, or occasionally panhandling. But I have never seen the homeless situation there as bad as it was today. I was like a convention for the destitute.
Every twenty feet I passed another desperate soul. A young, slender man with sturdy canes asked people for change. A, unkempt middle-aged man leered at passers by while sporting an unnerving grin.
A guy in the men's room cursed the patrons who were occupying the stalls. "I know you're not doing a Number Two, in there!" (I'm paraphrasing.) He then listed some of the things that he thought that the stall users might be doing. Neither the words nor the ideas were repeatable.
A crew of police officers were encouraging a frightened-looking man to pull up his pants. "You can't have your pants down here, sir!" the female office said calmly. The man claimed to have a rash. They guided him gently toward the men's room where the angry man continued to yell at the stall occupants.
We need to do something about the homeless problem in this country. It's not an issue that can be ignored any longer. Some communities have programs that work well. We need to implement those programs nation wide. The money will be well spent when children traveling with their families no longer have to witness the ravages of insanity and addiction just because they had to pass through a big city train station.
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
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