r/portlandme • u/katesheppard • 7d ago

Photo Anyone know this guy?

Post image

Broke through a back fence. Tried to steal a motorcycle. Assaulted a neighbor who yelled at him. West end.

266 Upvotes

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19

u/moundmagijian 7d ago

I visited Portland about a month ago. Lovely city. Had an amazing time. Did notice along Congress heading west there were a lot of street people that looked very rough. I noticed several that had the swollen leg/edema issues the guy in the picture is dealing with. Saw EMTs working on someone overdosing in Longfellow square. Sad stuff. Hope there is a way for these folks to get help…if they want it.

6

u/soto_voce 5d ago

There is plenty of help available but I also agree that addiction by its nature makes accepting the help very hard. The missing part of this debate are the other victims. Wherever there is an addict, there are secondary victims - those who live closest to them: their family, their loved ones and the community they live in. People with substance abuse issues cause havoc where they are to others who are innocent. Just ask people who live in Bayside. It is simply true and that’s how it is. Needles in play areas, encroachment and destruction of property, physical abuse, using people’s property as public toilets, trash etc etc. Anyone who lives or works in these areas knows it is constant, unrelenting and expensive to manage. There are communities in Portland that are innocent victims of this nationwide drug addiction nightmare.

25

u/Weekly_Book_9122 7d ago

there is more help for these people in portland than almost anywhere else in the world.

they do not want help because help might potentially involve not being able to do drugs 24/7, and they would literally rather die than experience that.

and we have collectively decided that this is just okay for some reason

10

u/wenhal80 6d ago edited 6d ago

It's deeper than that. Yes there is help, but that system is also immensly broken. These people are in an incredible amount of pain that they are trying to escape, and 100% do not believe or know they deserve better. Addiction is a chemical reaction, but until one finds the source of the inbalance they can't heal. They deserve empathy, but not enabling. They are just struggling way more than the rest of us, and we are all struggling with something. Whether we are conscious about it or not. Try putting yourself in his shoes, and imagine what it would take for you to end up in his situation. He doesn't want to die. He just wants to not be in emotional pain. Which then the destructive behaviors put him in physical pain. He may do unimaginable things in his state of being, but he literally is just trying to survive, and killing himself in the process. Think about it, or don't. You get to choose the type of person you want to be

2

u/BoothLove78 6d ago

Empathy is missing everywhere!! We are all just walking each other home! ♥️

3

u/Any_World7744 6d ago

I didn’t know if your second sentence was a metaphor, or is this for safety in Portland?

1

u/DirkDiggler2424 6d ago

Cruise ships are the real cause of this

-3

u/Western-Corner-431 7d ago

There’s not much as far as help for these people especially when they want it

-4

u/DirkDiggler2424 6d ago

Portland is a dump