WDAM Viewpoint: Homeless in Hattiesburg - WDAM.COM - TV 7 - News, Weather and Sports

I wonder how many of you knew about the tent cities in forests all around this area inhabited by homeless people?  I know I didn't until watching the 4-part series this week by News Seven's Ashlee Surles.  It was a riveting story…in many ways reminiscent of the hobo jungles of the Great Depression.  So often it is all too easy to dismiss the homeless as people who are just too lazy to work or people too weak to overcome addictions or perhaps mentally unstable.  Certainly not people like you…or I.  It's simply too disconcerting to think that but for circumstances beyond one's control, a bit of bad luck or a few bad choices…or the Grace of God, we could be one of those people.  If there is one thing that's certain it is the fact that none of us know what life may bring.  Granted, some are in that condition by their own doing.  But others have stories that would bring the best of us to our knees.  Certainly, those profiled in Ashlee's series should make us all stop and think…and when possible and appropriate—lend a helping hand. 

I'm Jim Cameron.  Let us know what you think.