The Irresponsible Wheel Gets the Compassion, I Gather

I've been working in the geriatric field for about eleven years now. And, while most of that time has been spent in the area of therapeutic rec, I have in fact done some case management duty, too. One story, in particular, stands out.................................................................................................It was an 82 year-old woman with various health concerns (respiratory problems, especially) and whose husband lived in a convalescent home (she also had two daughters but they both lived out of state). Her only sources of income were Social Security and rental income from the apartment upstairs..............................................................................................Well, to make a long story short, the people who lived upstairs were absolutely miserable. They partied heavily, trashed not only the apartment but made a mess of the outside as well, and, on top of that, didn't frigging pay their rent, either. The old lady ended up having to take them to court to have them evicted (this, after they fell a good 6-7 months behind on their rent) and it was very stressful...............................................................................................But you know what made it even more outlandish? The judge (and, yes, the people eventually did get evicted) was seemingly more sympathetic to the dysfunctional family (yeah, they had a couple of kids, too) than she was to the poor old lady. I mean, I almost wanted to scream at the guy, "Dude, she's frigging 82 and on oxygen! How's about a little compassion for the real victim here. These people can purchase cigarettes and brewskis every day but they flat-out can't pay ANY of their rent (and, yes, the old gal was very reasonable about it - 'Pay me what you can', she would say and they paid her NOTHING)? Come on, man!"......................................................................................................You see what I'm saying, though? There's really something wrong with the system here.