Homeless Vets poem (i didnt write this)

           Amanda Torrillo Quarter 2 Blog post #1

Homeless Vets

He could be your brother, uncle, son or father
Sleeping where he might find safety
And shelter from the world.
When was his last meal
His last hot shower
When was the last time he saw or heard
From any of his family
You passed him on the street last night
Remember?
That (in your thoughts) old,dirty looking bum
Sitting outside that fancy restaurant
Where you were going to have dinner And as he held his worn and tattered
Cup out to you.....what did you do?
Did you take the time to drop in a bit of change
Maybe a few dollars in his cup?
Or did you just pass him by
Disgusted and thinking....get a job!
Passed him by like he didn't exist?
He doesn't want to be there
Anymore than you want to see him there
Do you think he wants to beg?
When his country called him up to battle

Did they have to beg him?
NO! He went proudly and with honor
To fight for your freedom.
He went to a place like none other
He'd ever been in his life.
Even there he slept out in the cold
Trudged through a jungle where at any moment
His life could be over.
He was lucky, he came home
To what?
The same thing he prayed so hard to get away from
Only to be treated as if he were no one
He came home, not the young man who so proudly went in
But a man older than his years
Shunned by the very country he fought to keep free
Next time you pass that old, dirty looking bum on the street
Why don't you give him a few minutes of your time
He could be a vet
Thank him for what he did
He knows when you look at him
What you are thinking
He knows when your eyes won't meet his
He's seen it before when he came home from Vietnam
So when you lay in your nice warm bed tonight
Think of him
He's out there, still fighting a war
That none of us could ever possibly understand.
~~Rebecca Raley~~

This poem is about the homeless veterans who have fought for our country with their lives and are now homeless looking for anything they could possibly get. From personal experience i know that when i walk through the streets of NYC you see numerous homeless people, whether they're walking around collecting cans or sitting on the side of the street asking for as little as a few coins. Some of them are just regular people who don't have a home but other are people who fought for our freedom and their lives and now they're fighting everyday in their country to get through every day. In my opinion i think that if you fight for our country you should have a decent place to live and enough supplies to make it through the year. There are 18,600,000 vacant homes in the United States, that's enough for each homeless person to have 6. There shouldn't be homeless veterans on the side of the road trying to get by everyday praying that one day something good will happen after they have sacrificed their lives for our freedom.