LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: IF WE DON'T HELP WHEN WE CAN, WE CREATE A PROBLEM

To the editor:

Recently a friend offered a young man walking on the side of the road a ride to a local shelter. The man had been walking all day and was heading toward Texas where his brother had a job waiting for him. He was simply looking for a place to spend the night before continuing on his way.

My friend drove the clean-shaven, polite, 21-year-old man to several places throughout Scott City and Cape Girardeau, including four churches, two police departments and the Salvation Army. In all but one place, the man was denied help and was sneered at as if he were a criminal. The Cape Girardeau Police Department was the exception. After checking his record, the police department offered him a one-night stay in a local motel.

There are two problems with this situation.

1. This man needed a little help, and practically every door was shut in his face. Why couldn't the local churches and not-for-profit organizations help this man? Do we simply not have the resources?

2. The man wasn't a criminal. But what do you think happens to a person who is denied the basic necessities of life? He will do whatever is necessary to have food, clothes and shelter.

When society refuses to help this man, we are creating a criminal. Then society will punish him for it.

Something needs to be done, because this is truly a vicious circle.

LORRAINE ARCHER

Jackson, Mo.