What is the solution to homelessness in the USA?

When I was given an assignment for my photography class to take a photo of something that makes me sad, I first thought of the old man that stands at the corner of my street every single day and, crouched in this cold weather under his thin layers of clothing, mumbles something not understandable which, if he had teeth, would probably sound like "help the old man with some money." Lately, I've been seeing more an more people begging in the streets, and every single time it crosses my mind - should I give them any money?

Somehow, I have always thought that there is a job for everyone. It may sound rude, but to me homeless (of course, this doesn't apply to all of them) are the people that don't do anything about making their lives easier. Many people begging in the streets are healthy and able to do some physical job. 

Well, at least this is how I saw the problem of homelessness in Serbia. I honestly do not know how it is here. The only thing I would do to change the situation would be giving the homeless opportunity to find a job. Any kind of job. But if they just prefer begging for money and sleeping in the streets, there is nothing the country could do to make their lives better.

Then again, there are those who are old, incapable of working and people with disabilities. For those my solution would be to build shelters, and provide home help, such as food and some clothes. But the only way this could work is if the people that are given the help were aware of it, and that way worked on keeping their shelters clean and acceptable to live in.

What is truth?

Seriously, what is truth? I wonder if there is any universal definition of it. I guess the simplest way would be to say opposite of lie, but there are many ways of "not lying". Not saying something cannot be considered as lying, but it definitively counts as hiding the truth.

If we look it up on Urban Dictionary we can find a definition like this:

"Something which would probably upset a great many of people if it were known and made public."

So, is truth good or bad? Well, it is both.

We usually connect the idea of truth with relationships. If we were to ask people what they are looking for in a partner, at the top of almost everyone's list would be fidelity, respect and honesty. In one word, truth. We humans are vulnerable, and being lied to is an aspect of being hurt.

But not every lie is a bad lie. Let's consider white lies - your friend is thrilled about the new dress she bought for a date with her new boyfriend, but she just looks to chubby in it. You look at her enthusiastic face expression and you reply: "Yes, you look beautiful in it."

Of course, not to forget "no, you are not fat" and "I love your new hairstyle".

Is it truth? No. Does it hurt? No. As long as it is for a good deed, nobody will judge it.

Is this the end of books as we know them?

In today’s world there are many ways to “read” a book without even touching it, starting with the oldest way of adapting good books to mostly average movies with a comment “why to read something for 3, 5, 7 days if I can see a movie in two hours?”. Besides that, it’s been some time now since we have audio books which, in a combination with an I-pod or some other mp3 player, allow us to listen to a literary narrative read by an educated voice with the finest accent or by some barely known actor while we are waiting for a bus, driving a car or flying. Some would agree that it is a perfect saving of time that we usually waste looking through the window or thinking about unimportant stuff. Finally, there is Kindle. Electronic book reader that removes “flaws” of regular books, like misprints, small font size, heaviness, damaged pages and many other, and permits carrying a good portion of our libraries with us. Maybe for some people it is a step forward literacy wise, but I personally think that those “flaws” are the things that make books so interesting. It is as good a feeling to open a brand new book and sense the smell of the ink just as much it is to hold in hands a work printed more than fifty years ago knowing that numerous people have read it before you and maybe even influenced its readers. Highlighting tells us about a part that some anonymous reader liked, coffee and food stains tell us how contagious the work is and how the former owner couldn’t separate from the book until he finishes it.

Books influence their owners in many different ways. Let’s imagine that there are only electronic ways of reading or listening to a book. If a child in India would find a Kindle or an I-pod he would probably sell it for some money as fast as he could. But finding a book that he could read would certainly have greater chances to influence his development. Also, if all the books were in electronic format it would be easier to find and destroy “inappropriate” work once and for all. A skillfully placed virus or a manufacturer’s decision not to distribute the book through Kindle would effectively suffocate its existence.

My opinion is that technological development can only contribute to the promotion of a book. Amazon as the manufacturer of Kindle has increased the ways of exchanging and buying cheap books which was, before that, reserved for citizens of big cities and now it is available to anyone. We can see an example in a hard cover book that costs 90$ and its Kindle edition that costs only 9$.

Of course that many people will follow the way of technological novelties and read the books on their computer screens, but in the end, that leaves us with a question how to take an autograph of an author whose book you have on Kindle, and how to store a collection of electronic titles in your apartment?