Unravelled
The Blanket man is dead. Ben Hana, AKA the Blanket Man, died in Wellington Hospital yesterday, age 54. Apparently, Wellington mourns his passing
The MacDoctor generally takes a benign view of hobos. Although they provide the streets with some distressing sights and odours, they are generally harmless and cause little trouble. But the MacDoctor does not subscribe to the school of thought that describes the Blanket man as an “icon” or a “character” or even a “celebrity”. The MacDoctor has no praises for this man, only pity.
The MacDoctor also does not subscribe to the bleeding heart school of thought where the Blanket Man’s condition is all the fault of society. Ben Hana could have accessed plenty of help had he wished – alcohol and drug rehab, WINZ, counseling, and several newspapers willing to publish his story and support his journey back up the social ladder. He chose not to avail himself of any of this.
His death should not be a rallying cry for more funding for homeless people, nor an excuse for mawkish sentimentality. His death is the sad result of alcoholism, drug abuse and the complete abandonment of all self-respect. We should not be dressing his passing in pretty colours, for the truth of it is ugly. We should not be celebrating this man’s life but weeping over the terrible waste of it.
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Jan 17 12 5:29 pm
Just because the MacDoctor has a roof over his head and food in his stomach dosent give him the right to ridicule a homeless person – End of the day they are human too…
I would love to see your reaction if you were the homeless one on the street and people just walked by as if u never existed – U need to realise that when someone is in that position it is because they want to be there and there is nothing we can do but continue to offer the help and support – weather they take that help is another issue but it still dont give us the right to make fun of a person in this state of mind nor should they be judged…
I kid you not – If you were here in america and you were homeless – our shelters are also discriminating toward people in this lifestyle – End of the day this kind of lifestyle becomes an addiction just like any other addiction… If you are homeless on the streets here in Brooklyn and the shelters dont take you in chances are you’ll wind up dead anyway because some ghetto thug would want to put you out of your misery…
We are all human – im just saying that reguardless of the lifestyle we all live – We all should learn to love one another – but that wont ever happen an thats why this world is so full of evil because of cold hearted people who think money is everything…
Jan 17 12 5:50 pm
Actually, I was pouring ridicule and scorn on people who like to romanticize the plight of the homeless, not the homeless themselves. Perhaps you should try reading the post thoughtfully and leave out the knee-jerk liberal twaddle. unlike you, I have had to deal with the homeless directly in the emergency department; their infirmities, their alcoholism and their drug addictions. I know EXACTLY how human these people are and how horrible their life is. The homeless are not amusing – they are tragic.
It will take much more than holding hands and singing Kumbaya to help these people. The only ones even coming close are organisations like the Salvation Army.
Jan 17 12 8:49 pm
Whenever the mainstream media has described my area of residence as being in shock/mourning/fear/excitement I and everyone I know has been devoid of such emotions, with the possible exception of one rugby nut during the world cup. When journalists write such tripe they are no longer reporting the news, rather they are writing fiction and attempting to create the news.
I recently came across a street sleeper who provided an astonishing juxtaposition: http://mandenomoments.com/street-set-4/e3f616d2e
Mandeno Moments´s last [type] ..Street Set #4