I think there's many things to take away from the post given the way it is written, all of which are valid interpretations. I got the exact opposite of you. The end take-away I read from it was "The destitute are people. There are real problems and real situations that cause it. They don't want pity, they don't want handouts, they want to be in a better place but there is no hope left of that so they just make do and try to be happy like everyone else." I may be biased and read more into it than was intended given my personal past, but I got the message from the post that you ended with, "Treat them with human dignity and kindness, not with self-righteous pity."