Reader writes

I get tons of emails both here at this site and my other site with questions shot from the hips of readers. While I don't believe any question genuinely asked isn't ignorant, I 'do' get a chuckle sometimes when I'm asked to answer something that a person could have come to know if they'd looked to their own self wisdom.

I got this one email that amounted to asking about how to reduce belly fat while experiencing homelessness. It was well written and I thought it deserved mention.

Dear Reader,

I can't answer your question as asked.

If your friend has issue, my best recommendation would be to direct her to the closest available service provider she can get access to readily.

But if 'she' had asked me...I would have said the same thing as well as added relating my own experiences to her, since there'd be a chance of similar backgrounds between us. I think you asking with the interest of helping your friend regarding available resources is admirable, but in the end you are living in a home while she is not.

You're not doing her any good by doing the legwork of looking for help for her.

She needs to do this.

And let's face it...if you 'were' to get a job as a case manager for a homeless service provider, there is no way they would allow you to provide service delivery to any friend...it's called a conflict of interest.

By your words your choice of action to 'do anything to help her' and relating she's sitting on a park bench while you're fielding phone calls 5 hours a day...she needs to get off that bench and go sit in line until she gets seen for services.

On a bench in the park for days, weeks, and then years...or in a chair in a waiting room until she is eventually seen. I have known hundreds of people who have walked away from those waiting rooms to go back to the park...and never broke homelessness.

The ones that stay in the waiting room are the ones that get out of the cycle.

In short you need to let her do what she can for herself rather than talking for her. All she needs to do is open her mouth.