Generating Topics: The Homeless

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there are about 672,000 homeless people in America.  One of the main causes of homelessness is unaffordable housing.  There is a common misconception that all homeless people are drug addicts or pre-mental patients.  I admit that I once thought that was the case.  I used to believe that the homeless could easily get a job if they didn't do drugs all the time.  That was the mind of a little girl who knew nothing of the world. 

 

Then I moved to Memphis, where I encountered homeless people on the streets more often than I'd like.  At first they scared me, because I wasn't used to strangers asking me for food or for money.  When I could, I'd give them a few bucks.  Most of the time I'd ignore them and walk away.  It killed me to walk away and feel the accusation in their eyes.  In a dangerous world, it was probably wise for me to walk away since it'd be very easy for a grown man to take advantage of a tiny girl.  Yet I couldn't help but wonder about the person.  Does he have a family?  Did she ever get married or have children?  Then there's always the constant question:  does my mom live like that?  For you see, my mom was borderline homeless at one point.  She disappeared when I was twelve and I haven't seen her since.  So it makes me wonder, "Will the next homeless person I encounter be my mom?" 

 

 

A few months ago, when I was stuck in a broken down trolley in Downtown Memphis, I met a very strong woman.  She sat in front of me and introduced herself.  She asked about my friend and me and seemed very interested.  She told us she was from Wisconsin and came to Memphis to find a better job.  Then, in a matter-of-fact tone, she said she was homeless.  She told me that she was going to a march to protest the shelter charges.  That was news to me!  She said that the shelter they were protesting were charging homeless people $10 a night.  The homeless are homeless for a reason!  But the woman didn't ask for money and I could tell she was strong.  I left the trolley wishing I had something to give her.  The best I could do was listen to her and spread her story.  After leaving the trolley, we met another homeless woman.  She looked frantic and reluctant to talk to us, but she asked for money nonetheless.  She started crying and hiding her face out of shame, but insisted that we give her money for a homeless shelter.  We kept walking, but we didn't stop looking at her.  My friend couldn't bear to see her cry so he walked back to her and gave her all the cash he had, which wasn't much.  She started sobbing and my friend held her while she said thank you.  Then I started to cry.  As we left my friend asked me, "Was that a stupid thing to do?"  He meant, "Do you think it was just a ploy to get money?"  I thought of that too, that maybe it was a scheme to get money out of us.  But I told him it wasn't stupid, that no matter what her true intentions were, what he did was selfless and compassionate.  No one can be stupid because of that. 

 

 

It infuriates me now when people misjudge the homeless.  Not all of them are drug addicts and mental patients.  Some of them have families they lost.  Some of them were once like us, living comfortably without a worry in the world.  Anyone of us can be homeless at any time.  I'm thousands of dollars in debt as I type, thanks to all the student loans I've taken out.  Most of the homeless probably don't have families to bail them out of tough situations.  I'm fortunate because I have family and friends who'll never allow me to be homeless.  How can our society allow their people to be homeless?  So remember this the next time you meet a homeless person, and don't judge them too harshly.

http://www.endhomelessness.org/section/about_homelessness/faqs#why
http://www.homelessshelterdirectory.org/cgi-bin/id/city.cgi?city=Memphis&state=TN
http://wreg.com/2012/07/27/why-some-memphis-homeless-shelters-charge-money/