Letter to the Editor

A better alternative

As I read the Chelsea Record commentary last week on a homeless gentleman named Benjamin Estrada who recently was found frozen to death during the March 14 snowstorm under the Tobin Bridge where he had been living for years. Apparently, like  many homeless, these poor souls can’t or won’t accept shelter living sometimes because of all the rules and sometimes for no good reason.

 I hope others who still survive outdoors during the winter think about the tragic fate of Estrada and accept life in a shelter as a better alternative to dying along on a winter night under a bridge.

However, as most providers of human services know, you really can’t force people to come in out of the cold. Are they living a life that is a danger to themselves/ probably yes. However, I hope that those who slept near Estrada under the bridge come to their senses and accept a better way to survive life.

The commentary seem to ask the question, Can death bring change. Maybe for some but not for the many. We can only do so much as a society. Real answers seem to keep alluding us.

sincerely,

SAL GIARRATANI

East Boston 

 

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