SOUNDING OFF:Give homeless help, not ridicule

To whomever drew the cartoon “Signs of Spring,” (Bolton, May 18), accepted the cartoon in our local paper or read the cartoon and laughed — this is for you.

Your ignorance is disheartening. Learn who the homeless are. Mental illness is a no-fault illness just like diabetes. Many of these people have neurobiological brain diseases and their suffering is immeasurable!

If you’d just give yourself a chance to get to know some of these people and understand their conditions maybe you wouldn’t be turning them into a joke for the public to laugh at on Saturday afternoons while reading the paper in the comfort of their homes.

These people are war veterans, suffer from undiagnosed brain diseases such as ADD, mood disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic disorders, autistic disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, substance abuse, toxic exposure, brain trauma, memory problems, temper problems, relationship and martial struggles, health setbacks, etc.

All it takes is a loss of a job, a medical emergency or accident to become homeless.

Many people in this country are one step away from being homeless themselves.

These people are my friends, and it hurt me immensely to see them used as a joke in your cartoon.

Rather than make jokes about them, why don’t you try helping one of them?

By the way, they don’t use grocery carts, they use backpacks and they’re here for the same reasons you are. They too love the beauty and serenity of Laguna Beach.