In direct parallel: “I salute the human in you because of the human in me.”

And, that has come to mind in this hot summer. The small outlying area in north Texas where I live has a few Homeless people here and there, I think, or at least transients passing through. Denton, though? Like the Metroplex proper, it has a fairly large and semi-stable to stable homeless population.

And, in this summer’s Heat, I know they’re suffering.

I don’t know what I can do. The city of Denton has inclement weather shelters that are open until fairly late in the evening.

And, not all these people may actually be homeless. Some may have a residence, but it either has no AC or just a window unit. And, if it does have AC and just a window unit, and it’s an old house, not an apartment complex where other units partially shield you from the heat, maybe they can’t afford to run it.

So, they’re in places like Quakerstown Park, in the shade of oak trees, getting what cooling they can.

As for the actually homeless? About 10-20 years ago the rule of thumb was that one-third were that way primarily due to drug and alcohol problems, one-third to Mental Health, and one third to medical or other problems primarily outside their control. Note that the first two are not that way. Addiction is real, but the 12-step “powerlessness” idea is not, not in my world. Mental health? You can’t help it if you have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, but it’s in your control whether or not you take your thorazine or similar for the former, or lithium for the latter.

Anyway, that rule of thumb probably largely holds true. (The first two categories, of course, have some degree of overlap.)

Anyway, whether actually homeless, or simply at the bottom end of the precariat, beyond what got them there, I look at the bigger mental picture besides narrow mental health. They’re sapped, by the heat itself, then by being anchored to certain locations to try to avoid it.