A DILEMMA: What is the responsible thing to do when someone in the street displays behaviors that clearly indicate that he or she is mentally ill? We offer aid when anyone, stranger or acquaintance, is obviously experiencing physical distress. The man in my pictures was clearly in distress. Perhaps he was high on drugs. He wasn’t drunk. He didn’t ask for money. He begged for cigarettes. He took a rosary from around his neck and stooped to tie it around his ankle. He periodically took a feather from behind each ear and, holding them in his hands in what seemed like practiced ritual, he did a little dance. He didn't laugh or even smile. He reminded me of "Poor Tom," a figure of madness and poverty in
King Lear. Dozens of people saw his distress. No one gave him anything. He wandered away... alone. Should I have done something? I would not have let a bleeding person wander away.
It’s clear that we ordinary citizens going about our own business prefer to let other ordinary citizens go about their business without interference; but in our dedication to the idea that “a person has the right to do” whatever he or she wants to do as long as it isn’t illegal and isn’t harmful to others, do we turn away when we should intervene?
8 comments:
Somebody told me that "good" art results in engagement. Your pic of the guy doing Lord knows what to the sidewalk while sporting an interesting ankle chain certainly qualifies. What WAS he doing, by the way, or are you going to be coy and decline to reveal, in the interest of locking in the engagement eternally?
Dan
Dan,
I was having coffee with a friend at the Starbucks on the corner next to the North Park Theatre... The sidewalk there is often theater. There were eight or nine other people at tables, some in conversation and others reading or just watching the world stage. When Adam and I sat down, the fellow in my picture, that time wearing a red jacket, was in the process of taking it off slowly and draping it over a newspaper vending machine. He then went from table to table, very close... close enough to make clear that he hadn't had a bath in a long time... asking for a cigarette... Everybody told him "no" or that it's a no-smoking area. He always stood close and looked the person he was addressing straight in the eyes, almost challenging, seeming to want the engagement. When he came to our table, maybe Adam seems a more likely smoker than I, it was he who got the eyes to eyes treatment. He went to the edge of the sidewalk by the street and knelt as if in prayer... for perhaps five minutes. He then stood, bent his head forward a if in prayer, lifted the rosary from around his neck and awkwardly tied it around his left ankle. He came back to the coffee tables, didn't say anything, and then he lay prostrate on the sidewalk for a couple of minutes before beginning push-ups... He got up, gave all of us another look and went off down the street, leaving his jacket on the newspaper rack.
Ten years as an administrator with NYC Adult Protective Services taught me many things.
I learned most about what a caring person or group, a human service program, a religious
organization, an appropriately responsive government cannot do when sensing some type
of intervention may be required for an adult with a mental/cognitive, emotional, behavioral
or physical impairment.
Laws in most states make intervention in child abuse, neglect or abandonment relatively
easy; not so with adults. You and I believe it is right for "Courts" to move slowly and very
judiciously when intervening [intruding] in adults' personal choices. The process to convince
the court to terminate an individual's right to self-determination is most painful when seemingly
sufficient clinical, medical and a shitload of anecdotal evidence is presented, yet a judge
denies the petition. This occurs so frequently and is fraught with all kinds of twisted reasoning
on the part of the judge: personal belief, philosophical orientation, lots of political and, yes, fiscal
pressures. I worked around some of the most biased judges that ever sat behind a bench. A
few, in my opinion, were certifiable.
You understand the dilemma perfectly: “a person has the right to do” whatever he or she
wants to do as long as it isn’t illegal and isn’t harmful to [self and] others.
This man looks fit physically. He is eating regularly. He is dressed in his own unique style
that is not too out of place in a warm climate like San Diego. He appears clean. He does
not present (at least in the photos) the familiar facial and physical indicators of dementia. His
behavior, while odd on some levels, doesn't seem too far out there. In juxtaposition to say...
Hari Krishnas, Santeria practitioners, Hasidic Jews, Catholic, Buddhist, Muslim clerics,
Evangelicals & Pentecostal fundamentalists (these I've experienced up close and personally),
he doesn't appear to be "harmful to self and others".
The best we can do in the type of situation you observed (and captured in photos) is to
very cautiously attempt to engage the person conversationally on whatever level he might
accept and that hopefully will not trigger some aggressive or psychotic response. I believe
you did the right thing. You observed him, you pondered his status, he felt compassion and
then you walked away. I am very doubtful that you would have had a "bad experience" had you
attempted to get more info. Realistically, you would not have been able to provide any assistance
that would have changed his lifestyle choices. He most likely needs professional assistance.
Who knows if he is presently receiving this type of assistance and if he would voluntarily accept
any intervention. We make ourselves feel better when we extend any kindnesses to these dear
souls. This might be profound for us, but usually has little impact on the person we encounter.
I feel best when I offer food, coffee/tea, water or info on where to get help but never money. My
track record is that money is preferred. Food is sometimes accepted. Info about assistance is
rarely accepted. Most street people know where to get the help they want and will accept.
Jim
Oh wow, really sad isn't it. What would I do? Jeez, probably feel awful, but what is there to do? Hopefully I would interact and chat with him, probably say a prayer of my own....but I couldn't actually force him to go anywhere....sad.
I share your dilemma every day. Beggars are at many intersections and freeway exits with tales of woe on cardboard signs. Whom to believe? There are so many of them that one cannot help them all, if indeed they truly need help and are not just "gaming" the system.
We support the use of tax money to provide mental health help, but it was so expensive that the state dumped the patients out of state hospitals onto the streets. Now they are everywhere, and it is hard to tell the needy from the lazy. It is a plague on our society.
We donate generously to Father Joe, the Salvation Army, City Rescue Mission, etc. In the hope that the gifts will be used to turn some lives around as well as put food in bellies.
The poor fellow in your picture seems to be one who needs mental health help. God help him. I hope he is not a veteran who is floundering upon his return from the wars. He is one of those we would want to help. His actions sound like one who has a serious drug problem, and there is so much of that. It is a drain on our society in so many ways. Would legalizing drug use really help with these situations?
A Presbyterian minister, Paul Pulliam, told me how he and his wife had taken one of the "beggars" off the street, brought him home, fed him, and got him a job. Within a week the fellow had quit the job and was back on the street. He liked the freedom he perceived in being on the street, making his way by begging. What a pathetic way of life, and yet there are those who prefer that life style. It is hard for us to discern the truly needy. I tend to think that those who really want help can get it through the agencies I mentioned above. It's obviously not enough to help everyone, but a lot of people have found themselves through these organizations. I really admire Father Joe, who is now retiring.
Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you" and it seems to be so. You do what you can.
I thank God for my blessings and try to help where I can. An awful lot our tax "donations" go into social services of various efficiencies, as well. Our work with youth, such as in our church programs, YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, etc. attack the problem at its inception, and I'm all for it.
Ron
This is clearly a conundrum in our society & you stated the problem clearly--what to do?
My heart bleeds for these people, partly because I have dealt with anxiety & depression
most of my life; and I was socialized and in a strata of society whereby I did get the benefit
of professional help. Certainly the street people we observe mumbling & acting strangely
have more severe types of mental illness & are usually non-compliant with drug therapy.
Betsy
In regard to your dilemma blog post with pictures.
one suggestion I have to make is whether or not you would
have wanted to phone the police department and asked if this
was a situation for PERT to check into--maybe they
already knew about this man. PERT is the San Diego
Psychiatric Emergency Response Team in San Diego that
is teamed with the police and the Homeless Outreach Team.
One sometimes calls 911 and asks for PERT in San Diego.
Dorothy
Not sure about this Post. In India, bizarre scenes of desolation co-exists with hyper active everyday living. There are four year olds sleeping on road dividers of express ways, garbage pickers who live next to the garbage so that no one else stake their claim. The rich the poor the old the weak the "sane" and the visible insane co-exists.
The heart gets hardened. I guess thats as mush of what I can say!
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