Surfing Soapbox: Homeless need help, not judgment

Looking around reminds me of a small tent city. It’s sad to say the least. The homeless are strewed about like the wounded on a different battlefield. One that at times holds compassion for them and other times not. Sometimes one person can be greeted politely; the next person may just be urinating in public.

As the saying goes: “It only takes one or two to ruin it for all of us.”

Each person has a different story to tell; each person deserves his or her own second chance. Main Beach, simply said, is not the beach that I remember growing up on, and it is quite uncomfortable for many of us. In many ways it’s become the 1,000-pound elephant in the corner of our town.

I would like to think that our town has compassion for humanity and can help find these people adequate shelter — one that doesn’t interfere with families who would like to walk the new and improved boardwalk.

What has made our town great is our compassion for one another during the worst of times. I hear people make judgment on the homeless as if they somehow know all of their individual stories.

My question is: How do you know, if you never stopped to ask?

It’s time for our City Council to step up and find some proper shelter and/or solution for the homeless problem that plagues our town. I think we all know that times are tough for everyone right now, and our town needs to show its great resolve. The same resolve that we have seen so many times in the past.

One thing I am learning is that these old clichés we so often hear are old because they’re true. It’s not a time to judge because you never know. I know, because right now it could be me sleeping down there.

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach native, professional surfer and John Kelly Environmental Award winner. His websites include AlohaSchoolofSurfing and ECOWarrior Surf.com. He can be reached at Jamo@Aloha SchoolofSurfing.com