Insufficient sample size for drawing conclusions about target population. /sarcasm
Has anyone ever talked to a homeless person before? I recommend doing so from time to time. It's easy to judge some of these "bums." You'll find out some of these people have serious psychological/psychiatric problems (with alcoholism/drug addiction being a result, not just a cause).
We talked quite a bit, she was a gifted artist on the one hand and totally out of touch with the world around her on the other.
She said she could talk to trees and was completely fascinated by eyes. Last I heard from her she was living in Spain, doing drugs living on the street again.
I don't think she was homeless out of need as much as that she simply chose not to be a part of this society of ours.
If this was the case, the root affliction is not her fault, and she probably needed anti-psychotic medication on a regular basis, and government financial aid to keep her off the streets. Talk therapy is almost useless for that condition. Though giving her shelter and helping her to keep social connections is vital. So it sounds like you helped her out a lot.
If everybody that talked to trees or other spirits had schizophrenia you'd have to include each and every religious person, to me their beliefs are just as weird as someone talking to trees.
It's not that simple.
Regarding religion. That's complicated. It may very well be the case that some people who make religious claims are in fact mentally ill. There are likely also other people who claim to follow a religion who are not mentally ill: they were either raised by their parents to believe that way, or, they chose it.
In an artistic sense.
A sample of what she could do:
I lived and worked in downtown Chicago for close to 3 years. There is a large population of beggars. About 90% of them are black males. During the same period, I also saw lots of black males, who looked like these same beggars, in convenience stores and grocery stores buying alcohol and tobacco -- ONLY. Not other stuff along with it. Only those things. They often favored a certain kind of beer. I often saw that same kind of beer can, or wine bottle in a brown paper bag, discarded empty in the gutter or near trash cans in the same neighborhoods. Eventually, you put two and two together and conclude that it adds up to four. Do all of those beggars buy alcohol and tobacco with the money they get? Probably not. Are all of them addicts or lazy? Probably not. Are probably a large portion of them that way -- and/or mentally ill? Probably yes.
But once you see that enough with your own eyes you begin to feel less sympathy for many of them. Not a total lack of sympathy or empathy -- I don't want anyone to live that kind of life, even if it is a case of failed willpower -- but it also hardens you a little bit when there's a call for more aid. Some people truly have hard things happen to them, and it's not their fault. Some people truly bring trouble upon themselves, and it is their fault. And it's hard to distinguish between them from a distance.
But you're (somewhat) correct when it comes to aid. Giving a homeless person 5 bucks won't do anything to alter their condition. It'll fill their belly, at best. But consider what 5 bucks probably means to me or you and what a meal means to someone who can't always count on one.
I've made that exact mistake myself, but I think this may be the better approach.
They wouldn't be begging if they were not. Begging is asking for money. That's an honest persons last recourse when they have no other options.
A dishonest person would steal, not beg.
In Italy, some time ago, they made a report on TV on fake beggars. They were normal people, with houses, jobs and cars that in their spare time pretended to be beggars just to get more money.
And don't be sorry :)
(I am italian myself and I say this with a little of bitter sadness, but it is how it goes, unfortunately).