I was fortunate in my college days in that, during my Sociology course, one day they brought in a number of homeless people they'd picked up in Portland so that we could talk to them. It turned out that the majority of them were homeless by choice (and were really interesting people, I might add!). They had simply decided that the drudgery of an ordinary work & family life wasn't for them, and they'd opted for total freedom. (They also preferred to be called "hobos" rather than "homeless" since they lived migratory lives.)

One of the two exceptions was a boy who had run away from an abusive, alcoholic father (and, it turned out, was a former classmate of one of the other students in the class!). The other, by his own admission, was a "wino", a man who had caved in to his frustrations and had traded his life for alcohol. Both these individuals were in sore need of help, but neither of them really seemed to want it.

Yes, Francis, we are definitely very lucky in many ways compared to many people of the world. However, as I've seen first-hand, "homeless" and "unlucky" are not always the same thing. While some of them are tragic, others are where they are by their own choice and are even happy about it.

The guy you were talking about sounded pretty tragic, though.

he was just sitting there minding his own business why somebody had to call the cops on him lah!

Francis, Jamy here, You are invited to vote for which watermelon to choose @
http://www.seaykopitiam.com/
Thank you
Jamy :)