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“Seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go”

I know where this is. Long ago and for a short time, I lived there.

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station, runnin’ scared
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know…

Oh the wounded and the lost and the abandoned and the forsaken and the missing and all those gone down into the long darkening death of addiction and insanity from which only a power greater than themselves could save them… and that power was not THE STATE.

Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing — Dylan

What can I say? We had some nice ideals.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • OneGuy March 18, 2021, 1:32 PM

    I am not a big supporter of the homeless as I believe most are there because of addiction and of course many are there because of mental illness. But! Imagine a country where all citizens are helped before we give away the golden goose to non-citizens who have broken our laws to get here. Our government is broken, it no longer puts the citizens first and in fact seems hostile to the rights of our citizens and the good of the country. It appears to be intentional as in they intend to destroy us so they can remake America into something else.

  • Bill in Tennessee March 18, 2021, 2:47 PM

    In my little corner of the world, we see an infrequent homeless person passing through to better climes, and I always wonder at what point their lives took that wrong turn? Was it a bad childhood? Mental illness? Drug or alcohol abuse? Viewing that LA video, I might wonder the same thing about a city that allows that to happen… at what point did that city turn away from being a thriving urban society to being a catch basin for the worst of us? And WHY did they allow it? Did they give up on the “broken window syndrome” enforcement? Did the city leaders think they were doing people favors by letting them crash in their downtown areas?

    For me, you could keep LA on a GOOD day, I want no part of it… or NYC or Detroit or… whatever. I guess I will remain in my bright and shiny corner of the world in God’s country and never have to worry about such matters.

  • Rob De Witt March 18, 2021, 6:57 PM

    Every single one of those angry bums has been assured by pop “music” his entire life that it’s hip to be a rebel.

    Boy, they’re showing ’em now.

  • gwbnyc March 18, 2021, 7:41 PM

    if that guy on the winter sidewalk is in NYC we are soundly taxed to feed/clothe/house him. if he wants to be there, we have to leave him alone even as we pay for a sane alternative.

    I don’t want him there.

    he’s just flat in the way.

    I think our maoist municipal government wants him there to “shame us for our privilege” and hasten our societal collapse.

  • andre March 18, 2021, 7:46 PM

    I live in LA and even in good areas, there are homeless encampments. Mayor Garcetti’s philosophy is hand’s off. Police don’t enforce anything. Even though the city got 3.4 billion to address the problem, little has been done. In other municipalities they have addressed the problem. Setting up little homes and the like. Many of these people are mentally ill and/or addicted–I have spent time on Skid row with my church–it is unbelievable. Some cities in southern California have no homeless, but LA does, all over, and trash too. LA allowed it all to happen. It is not difficult to sort this out but Garcetti, most of the city council, and the poverty industry keep it going.

  • John Venlet March 19, 2021, 3:50 AM

    About the only good thing I could see in that video of LA, is that the sky was blue.

  • Tony March 19, 2021, 8:33 AM

    Love the video.
    Our coastal betters are getting exactly what they voted for. Hopefully they will get more, one hundred fold.
    I could note that lofty ideals and airy dreams don’t always translate into reality that well, but who am I to say they didn’t under that golden California sun?
    The politicians and law enforcement officials promised a de-evolution, and they delivered.

  • orcadrvr March 19, 2021, 10:33 AM

    The homeless are this society’s “Sacred Cows”.
    Just as in some parts of the third world, they are permitted to take what they want to eat, sleep where they feel like sleeping, and poop anywhere that is convenient.
    Nothing can be done about it, except possibly billions of wasted spending and the assessment of new taxes “For the Homeless”.
    To point any of this out is to be immediately branded as a heartless hater of mankind, and of course, a racist.

  • okguy March 19, 2021, 11:59 AM

    The guy sitting on the winter sidewalk….that’s downtown Toronto,Canada,the blurry red thing is a TTC streetcar , Queen & University ave. He is there because he is ALLOWED to be. The police are not allowed to disturb him or take him to a shelter by force and keep him there. He is also probably mentally ill.All manner of social workers will come and dance around him,giving him food,sleeping bags etc. No one will do what has to be done.

  • ghostsniper March 20, 2021, 4:26 AM

    Don’t laugh, this could be you soon. It starts slow, then it turns fast. The more you allow others to control you, the more they do control you. You think you’re in control, but it’s an illusion.

  • CC March 20, 2021, 11:21 AM

    My Grandparent’s owned rental property at the corner of 95th & Normandie in the 50’s , the first place I can remember living. To the north, an empty field with palm trees, a Richfield station and a Ma & Pa market across the street.
    Can’t imagine what it must be like now.

  • Boat Guy March 21, 2021, 3:41 AM

    I use the term “vagrant”. I’m glad there wasn’t an olfactory component to this.
    Dunno why but at some point the song “Walking in LA” came to mind. Long ago and far away from this present