I'm not sure exactly what the topic is here today. The things swimming in my head are the story of the 83 year old female burglar arrested in Hungary this week. She was charged with burglary since she had a long history of the crime, enough to be known as "the flying thief." She was called that because of her usual escape method using an airline flight. She rides the rails now to travel because it's free for pensioners in Hungary.
The other story on my mind is unpublished. A woman rang my doorbell this week and asked if we had a blanket we could give her. She was not aged but did have grey hair, maybe sixty or so.
She said she was being allowed to sleep in a church, and had a mattress but it was cold. I gave her a blanket but that's not all that went with her. Thoughts about the great depression, the attempts that my department and many others have made to reach out to the homeless in Los Angeles, all followed her back to her shelter.
Jails in LA are no place to take shelter. They are rough and crowded. But then so are the homeless shelters. Older adults tend to avoid the shelters because it's hard to defend yourself there. The older homeless tend to be more isolated because it's safer. they may be more entrenched in the lifestyle and have a harder time adjusting to living indoors. I have a note hanging in my office from an 80 something year old man thanking me because he had a room and a bed and he felt like I had a hand in getting him those things. I have kept the card long after the man lost his placement because the culture of violent crime he lived in took him back.
The word Hobo is having a resurgence. I hear my daughters and their friends use it. I wonder if we are having a return to the behaviors that went with the word- giving a sandwich to a man at the door, just because he asked, and I have.
I hope that the values of kindness, of paying forward, of helping first and asking questions later are not lost in the new age of need.

I spoke this morning to a group called the Pasadena Fiduciary Round Table at the University Club next to Fuller Seminary. I let the group of over 100 professionals know from the start that in Psychology we have found that peoples' number one fear is public speaking. The second most reported fear is death. Therefore most people would prefer death to what I was about to do. I then led them on something of a journey through the world of comparative neuro anatomy and behavioral consquences. One important point was that all behavior has a purpose, and in the right circumstances, it has survival value. If it wouldn't improve the species, we wouldn't do it. As I drove away from the venue, I heard a newspiece on the radio about how many people are donating money and goods for the eight babies recently born to a unmarried mother of six. I haven't heard of one person that approves of the behavior of having fourteen kids and no means of support. I am glad to know that at least some folks don't take out the sins of the parent on the children. It improves the species to take care of those who can't care of themselves. And it improves the culture to regulate behavior like having that many invitro implants. There definitely oughta be a law.