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Food for thought on homelessness, mental health, addiction

Cowichan Valley Citizen - 1/3/2020

Food for thought on homelessness, mental health, addiction

Maybe let the following sink in for a while before exploring and discussing the issue.

Here are two remarkable quotes (two of many) by Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius written about 1,900 years ago.

"Poverty is the mother of crime."

"Death and life, success and failure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike and are neither noble or shameful — hence neither good or bad."

I am not suggesting that these thoughts lead to any practical solutions to the problem, but could help to raise the ongoing extremely polarized discussions up to a more empathic and civilized level. Some will probably respond to this with a popular quote from the 21st Century: "If life has dealt you a bad hand, you can always reshuffle the deck."

Yes! Very good point! Unfortunately not everybody has the power, strength, cognitive capacities and support systems to do that. Where do we go from here?

Martin Best

Maple Bay