Canadians and the Mentally Ill

I have always wondered why so many Canadians are so callous about the suffering of the homeless. Especially since so many homeless people are mentally ill.

Now I know why.

Almost half of Canadians believe that a diagnosis of mental illness is merely an "excuse for poor behaviour and personal failings" and one in 10 thinks that people with mental illness could "just snap out of it if they wanted," according to the startling findings of a new opinion poll.

And I wish I didn't.

Who are these ignorant brutish Canadians? And why are there so many of them?

They should meet the miserable old woman in the little park, with her supermarket cart and her humble possessions. Sitting there in the rain. Who never says anything. No matter how hard I try.

Or the poor frightened young guy under the expressway who talks to himself all night. Who runs away when I bring him something to eat.

Then they might know what suffering is all about, shut their moron moralizing pie holes, and try to act like humans instead of beasts.

What kind of country are we becoming when so many people would beat up the poorest and the most vulnerable of Canadians....instead of helping them?

My guess is a coarse, ignorant, and self satisfied Oaf's Paradise that thinks it smells like roses.

But actually smells like SKUNK...