Editor:
Re: White Rock’s man on the street moved by authorities, Oct. 11.
Finally, some intelligent discussion about the welfare of Ryan Ashe, White Rock’s ‘homeless guy.’
I don’t know how many times I’ve mused about Ryan’s situation or discussed it with others. Passing him by on various routes around the city centre, where he’s become a fixture, I’ve silently asked myself if this winter will be the one he will not survive.
Medical non-compliance with the mentally ill is a difficult issue, and Ryan exhibits this in spades when one attempts any conversation with him.
Every year he looks worse, if that’s possible, a person so displaced in body and mind it makes my heart ache.
He is mentally ill, we all agree on that. He does not want to live indoors, we also know that. But the day will undoubtedly come when he will die on the streets of White Rock where he’s made his home for years.
The hue and cry would begin on that day, finger-pointing and accusations would fly – why didn’t someone do something? The powers that be could have moved him into housing, or the hospital, for his own good. Why did he have to die such a punishing death?
Personal rights are not the issue here. Many caring citizens have wondered how Ryan could survive for so long even in our mild climate, year after year, without city officials dealing with his well-being or quality of life.
The naive argument seems to be that the right of the individual to exercise their choice to live on the street trumps society’s obligation to help these folks find safe and secure housing.
The huge, disturbing issue of homelessness continues to be front-and-centre in many jurisdictions as society struggles to find solutions to this growing epidemic.
It will not soon go away, and Ryan is just another victim of it.
In civilized societies, we do not allow animals in distress to live on the streets, particularly our beloved dogs. They do not always go willingly into shelters, but we know they will receive the care they need there. Where does this belief come from that this man doesn’t deserve what the rest of us take for granted?
Because sometimes he seems happy with his lot in life, we have continued to accept his progressive deterioration.
At the very least, I welcome any intervention by officials and police to help Ryan get off the street and live out his life in a more dignified manner.
So should we all, as this really is about him, not the ideology of those who would allow him to die out of a misplaced belief in personal freedom.
Leslie Hilts, White Rock
• • •
I am very sad to hear about Ryan Ashe.
As a resident of White Rock for over 40 years, I’ve often spoken to the man. He is not scary or dangerous.
I also have been shunned simply because I’m 91, a little deaf and disabled.
I cannot understand why some people want to get rid of others because they do not conform to their ideas of what people should look like or act like.
Audrey Ray, White Rock
• • •
A modern version of a famous quote:
“First they came for the homeless, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t homeless. Then they came for the gays, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t gay. Then they came for the old, and I didn’t speak because I wasn’t old. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak.”
Mike Hammersmark, Surrey
• • •
I was working in an Edmonton hospital years ago as a nurse.
One day, we admitted a gentleman from the street. We bathed him repeatedly to get him clean, treated him for lice and cut his hair, fingernails and toenails.
He was bedridden for some time. When he started to walk, diabetic snacks disappeared and I found them in his closet. I also found some flattened boiled eggs under his pillow. Other things happened also, like somebody’s money was gone. I tried to tell him he doesn’t have take other people’s things, I will get food for him when he is hungry.
When he got better, we looked for a nursing home for him. After lots of work, we found one.
When the day came that he was ready to be transferred, he said: “No, I am going home!”
He went home, to the street. Two months after he left, we learned he was stabbed to death under the bridge.
Sometimes, it’s hard to know what to do with street people. We only hope he was happy those two last months living at ‘home.’
Sirkka Wahlberg, White Rock
• • •
I was one of the students who protested outside of Hillcrest Shopping Centre on Oct. 6.
I hope the other letter-writers will forgive me if I spout some more “leftist psychobabble” (Time to talk about homelessness, Oct. 11 letters), but it is simply beyond me that people can value things like views and comfort over another person’s life circumstances.
Letter-writers, has Ryan ever done anything personally to you? I understand he is left without private bathroom facilities – and yes, he does have a smell – but is that any reason to value him any less?
Speaking on behalf of the three of us Grade 12 students who gave up our Saturday afternoon to share our opinion, we are not condoning people relieving themselves outside. We are simply stating that Ryan should be treated as a human being.
And yes, White Rock’s “man on the street” is named Ryan. I see no reason for anyone to bring up anything else other than to try to distort the real point of the issue by bringing up Ryan’s mental disability.
I find the amount of agreement the original letter (He’s allowed to ruin our view, Sept. 27 letters)has garnered to be depressing.
When I read the letter, I thought we were dealing with only one person’s anomalistic view. Little did I know so many other people would share the same selfish, disrespectful views on the life circumstances of another human being.
Tell me, all of you who have written letters cheering your support for the removal of a human being from your neighbourhood on account of his hygiene: how would you feel if it was your brother or sister on the street? Or son or daughter?
If they made their own decision to live on the street peacefully, would you still try to evict them because they were ruining your view?
Neil MacAlister, White Rock