One homeless camp (will not reveal location) If you look in the foreground, there is a tote for trash. Pallets are generally used for steps through wooded areas that get muddy after rain. Shirt on the pallet up front is drying out. This is the typical homeless camp.
It is always nice to see a community who is willing to open
a dialogue about something that many have swept under the rug for years. The
homeless community still exists in Elkton, Maryland and around Cecil County,
but is the problem getting worse or better? From many aspects, it has gotten
better, but it depends on whose perspective you are looking at it from. I am in
the unique position of looking at it from both sides of the fence.
Unfortunately, both sides are littered with a lot of trash and it needs to be
cleaned up.
Typical item NOT left by the homeless community. Most homeless living in the woods do not have cars and definitely have no need for useless tires on the ground. Unfortunately, I did not grab photos of the tires that were buried in the ground and all the trash lying in areas where the homeless have never nor could ever camp. Your parks are actually cleaner now than they have been in decades because the homeless brought light to it, not because they brought it in.
A recent clean-up of some of the homeless sites took place.
A group of church members gathered with some of the homeless community in order
to clean up the vast amount of trash that has overtaken the areas.
Unfortunately, there may be a little misconception about where all that trash
comes from or came from.
The clean-up was successful on many platforms. The first,
and most important, platform is that of human kinship. Some of the homeless community
along with the some of the church communities was able to drag out a large
amount of garbage. It is not an easy task to get it all cleaned up, but a
report from one of the church members said that he did not believe that all the
trash was from the homeless. He had reasons for saying that and it will be
covered shortly as well as confirmed by me.
The second level is that a lot of garbage, both new and old,
was removed and can no longer cause an environmental hazard. I posted a copy of
the Cecil Whig article about the removal and it sparked a conversation about
why the taxpayers should be held responsible for the clean-up. That is what
this blog is really about today.
Considering that I was in the homeless community for several
months, I can attest to the fact that not all homeless people are trashy people
who do not care about their surroundings. Even homeless people like to have a clean
place to stay, even if that place is in a tented and wooded area. The idea that
homeless people just don’t care is a fallacy. Keep in mind that they may not
always be able to keep up with the trash in their camp without using methods
that probably are not totally legal. For instance, there may or may not be a
few people who might or might not have fire pits in order to keep trash to a minimum.
Besides, it may or may not help keep them warm at night.
Ponder for a moment if you will that homeless people don’t
have a lot of trash to haul around and leave dumped everywhere. They carry as
little as possible with them because it would be a hindrance to carry
everything they ever owned with them. The average homeless person has enough
clothing to change through the week, things like toothpaste for hygiene
purposes, coats, one or two pairs of shoes and possibly one or two personal
things they cannot do without. Tents often consist of mattresses, blankets
(sleeping bags), pillows, and the above mentioned personal hygiene and clothing
items. On top of that, most homeless people eat at the Paris Foundation
facility and do not take anything back to their camps with them. They also keep
water, sodas, and, on rare occasion, food items at their tents. It is detrimental
to campsite to keep food at camps because there are a lot of raccoons and other
furry animals that love to “break into” the tents for a little feast. Food
items in tents is a huge no-no for the wiser of the homeless community.
The mattresses, for those who do have them, are generally
found on the road or are dumped by people in the community as trash. The
homeless simply reuse them. You can call it crafty recycling, even if it is not
always the healthiest of choices to make. What the homeless do not bring with
them is old tires, car parts, burned out car shells, sofas, chairs, and tables
with them. They find these items alongside of dumpsters, in the woods, and just
about anywhere else that people decide to dump the things they no longer want
junking up their warm homes. Homeless people do not have the money to purchase
these items so they find them and claim them as their own when they are
carelessly left by someone else.
I really hate to say this, or maybe I don’t, but you can
trust me when I say that homeless people will find a way to cash in on any of
their trash that they can. If they drink beer, for instance, they save the
cans. There are tons and tons of cans in a neat little pile in one location,
and I assure you that it will not go into a trash pile for the dump. It will go
into a recycle bin so that the homeless person collecting them can get money
from it. After all, if they are going to drink, might as well get back what
they can. Homeless people don’t waste because they can’t afford to waste (I use
the term waste lightly, because we could go on about how they shouldn’t be
drinking when they don’t have a home, but this particular blog is about trash).
They use every possible resource available and they find ways that people in
houses would never think of. It is a resourceful group. Even the half smoked cigarettes
lying on the ground around town don’t go to waste. Use your imagination if you
must, but I think you get the picture.
I welcome questions about these things because the homeless
are already under a microscope and being judged for the things they do wrong.
They do not need to be given the added burden of taking on responsibility for
things that they did not create themselves. In this particular case, they did
not create the trash problem; the trash problem has been there for many
decades. It’s just that the community didn’t notice it because it was hidden.
Once again, out of sight, out of mind, until we can blame it on someone that
didn’t put it there. Think about it, please. It is not every household that
finds a child’s play broom and rake alongside of the road and says, “Hey, we
can use this to sweep out the tent and rake up the leaves.” And yes, that last statement
is a true one. NOTHING goes to waste out there. Nothing.
