|
EDGES MAGAZINE Issue 14 |
Aug/Sept 1998 |
| . | People can be unkind | |
| My name is Tracy Woods and I am 23 years of age. I have been homeless. I was homeless about 2/3 years ago for about 3 months. People were nasty with me and nobody would help me, I didn't have anybody to turn to and in the end I didn't know what to do really, so I went to Police Street, they took me in. |  |
At the moment I
have got a Heroin habit; I am having counselling for it , but on
Wednesday I am moving to Blackpool to make a fresh start and get off
it. In the future I would hopefully like to go to college and then
on to University. I would like to become a scientist. I do have a belief in God, I used to go to church up until I left my parents home, but I just stopped going - I don't know why. When I look at society I see a lot of vicious people out there, unkind people. When you go out begging on the street, asking for a bit of change they're nasty to you and there's just no need for it whatsoever. I do beg to get money for myself because I am not claiming dole at the moment, I barely make £5 or £10 per day, I get called all sorts of names, "get a job, you're a scrounger" and basically people just don't understand. They're not in my position and what would they feel like if they were in my position and I've said that to them. I sometimes sit there in tears. |
| On
Reading "Edges" for the First Time How hard for us the old to understand The thoughts, moods, feelings, problems of the young, From shattered homes, drugs, crime and errors sprung, Evil's now commonplace throughout our land. Our lives have spells of unemployment spanned, Our crime was rare and drugs unknown among Our friends and relatives, who rung by rung Oft raised themselves with a tenacious hand. Who is to blame? The young themselves, perhaps. They are not forced by elders to take drugs Or to resort to theft to find the means. If someone can redeem them from their lapse And save them from becoming thieves and thugs, All hail to T.H.O.M.A.S. when it intervenes. Edward Sugar, Aged 83. |
HOMEWARD
BOUND One gets weary of the stress of life today, And hard to cope sometimes on your monthly rate of pay, Its hustle and bustle through streets and shops, Wearing yourself out till your legs nearly drop; Rushing home to cook that tea, Bath the kids and its just maybe, You can snatch a moment to sit yourself down, Fling your shoes off and drop your frown, You can close your front door Feel safe in your world; But remember the homeless lives in turmoil, Poverty, sickness, sadness and terror, They live on the streets in all kinds of weather, They cry and they beg, as one would do; They have little hope and rely on you, To give them a smile, to offer a crust, A kind word here should be a definite must. Don't pass them by, Don't glare and stare They are human inside, and very aware; They are not there by choice But fate dealt them a blow Mancunian Christian |
