CNN Crossfire hosts, Mary Matlin and Bill Press, on their Thursday December 9th show, attempted with nominal success, to shed some light on the homeless issue. An issue that has all the politicians in search of loftier stations, putting in their two cents worth on how to handle this burgeoning topic. Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, as well as William Balwin the actor and president of a group called The Creative Coalition, were guests of the CNN show.

    The organization Ms. Mac Donald is associated with is a think tank of sorts, according to their mission statement. They also publish the seasonal magazine City Journal, of which Mayor Giuliani is purportedly an avid reader. Mr. Baldwin’s organization is working with HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo to find effective and humane solutions to the homeless crisis, which has affected cities big and small throughout America.

    Ms. Mac Donald expressed her belief that people living on the streets are happy to be there. She claims that the reason shelters are not filled is “because the homeless would rather panhandle for money to buy crack cocaine and alcohol" than to live under the strict rules of a shelter.

    Think tank? What the hell are they thinking about over at the Manhattan Institute? How to care as little as possible about the poor and the needy? With “Rude Rudy” locking up the homeless, and “Heartless Heather” labeling them as “crack-head drunks”, we won’t need to search the television guide this Christmas season for the airing dates of "It’s a Wonderful Life". The entire scenario is being played out for us through this homeless calamity, but it seems we have double cast the role of Mr. Potter.

    Ms. Mac Donald, there a few details concerning the homeless that you may want to consider before making such erroneous remarks. Some of the homeless, in fact most of them, were at some point contributing members of society. They were decent respectable citizens who, unlike yourself apparently, may have made some incorrect choices along the winding road of life. Suffering the consequences from those decisions they are now in need of assistance to get back on track. They do not need, in their time of crisis, to be treated as though they were not important. Nor do they need to be wrongly labeled as substance abusers. Locking them up only worsens the situation, and to even suggest it is, at the very least, inconsiderate.

    There has been so much focus on the population of homeless people who are mentally ill and/or criminally inclined. The general public has no idea of what the average homeless person embodies. When you stereotype the entire homeless population as being "crack addicted", what you are really saying is that their problems are not important enough to understand or even acknowledge. These are human lives, with which you are so eager to invalidate. Human lives that could be saved from the black hole of poverty if we all work together to try and better understand their needs, instead of pretending that their situations are entirely self imposed. The millions of dollars that go to assist the homeless are obviously being used in a manner that only perpetuates their depressed situations. To blame them for not knowing how to help themselves seems a bit ridiculous.

    The homeless often times don't have phone number to leave prospective employers, or even the proper clothes to wear to job interviews. If they are lucky enough to find a job, they are often times unable to take a shower each morning and eat a nutritious breakfast before heading off to work. Their co-workers may not understand that there may be some difficulty readjusting to the workplace routine. These people are in a crisis situation, which must be dealt as such in order for them to be cured. The psychological damage that uncaring citizens inflict upon these down and out individuals will only worsen their conditions.

    Ms. Mac Donald your curiosity as to why some of the homeless urinate and defecate on public and private property when proper facilities are not available to them typifies your lack of reasoning. Many of those, who would rather live on the street, do so out of fear that they will be harmed in the supposedly secure environment of the shelters. If they are as you say addicted to crack cocaine and/or alcohol, then that is all the more reason to help them into effective treatment programs, instead of into jail cells as Mayor Giuliani and yourself seem all to prepared to carry out.

    Clearly there is no easy solution to the homeless crisis. The agencies designed to assist those who have lost their way must be examined as to the effectiveness in treating these issues. To threaten and insult the homeless is the most inhumane course of action one could ever take in trying to transfer these damaged individuals from the fringes of society and back to being productive members of society.