Many automatically avert their gaze to avoid making eye contact when they see a homeless person on the street, since it is better, they feel, to not recognize through their own eyes, that homelessness exists. Those who look away are fighting a fear that they too could wind up on the street. As the philosopher, George Berkeley, reasoned, “What one perceives exists. What one does not perceive does not exist.” So what is playing out is fear, denial and perception defense.

To the homeless person, the turning of a head away from them signifies total rejection, because, they think, they are disgusting and less than human, a self-hatred perception which cause them even greater pain. They have been thrown away, rejected and treated as trash, being caught in a trap that seems inescapable.

A high percentage of those who recognize homelessness as a malfunction of society have no idea what the life of a homeless person is like behind the scenes. Maybe 50% have an idea. but less than 20% of those have knowledge of a particular form of violence in this mysterious, secret world (that is too familiar with violence in general), where the goal each day and night is simply to exist, to stay alive..

Following the just-published story below, (Heroic Minister's Stand For Integrity), regarding Pastor John Anderson, of Bay Area Rescue Mission who refused a huge "financial blessing" to withdraw his opposition to allowing casinos to build and operate in Richmond, California, this book review, which was first published on August 16, 2005 is being re-released. Read it carefully and get the book. It is absolutely the best book published on the growing problem of gambling addiction.

Gambling-Don't Bet on It
Dr. Rex M. Rogers
Book Review by Rev. Austin Miles

The Earl of Sandwich, was a problem gambler who wouldn't leave the gambling table long enough to eat his dinner, so his servants had no choice but to develop something he could eat with one hand while he gambled with the other. Hence the birth of the sandwich as we know it today. This tidbit from the new Kregel Publications release, Gambling, Don't Bet on It, demonstrates the degree to which gambling can alter a lifestyle, a personality, and in this case, even our eating habits.

Finally, we have the definitive book on gambling, better defined as, the game...that turns into pain.  It has become a religion where people faithfully worship at the Temple of Chance, genuflecting before The Wizard of Odds.

It is a totally inclusive religion that welcomes outcasts and ne'er-do-wells, along with the rich and the powerful. As long as you have a few bucks in the pocket, it's an egalitarian community.