January 12, 2008

  • It Could Have Been You, Miguel...And It Probably Should Have!

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    Years ago, as I walked through the streets of downtown Los Angeles I never thought much about the homeless. I mean that in two ways. I mean, thought much, as in the homeless were never really on my mind, and also, thought much, as I didn't think they were worth a shit. I'm not proud of it, but I admit to feeling that way. The reason I felt that way was because I had been there before. I had been homeless, and at the young age of thirteen no less, and now, I was no longer homeless. I did the things that I had to do in order to come up. So in my mind, they were homeless because they wanted to...they had no heart. They were cowards.

    But things aren't always black and white like that. Perhaps they chose to remain homeless rather than resorting to selling drugs to children and pregnant mothers. Perhaps they chose to shiver at night, with only newspaper to keep them warm rather than to commit armed robbery and perhaps end up taking a life. Maybe the thought of purse snatching and back alley beat downs wasn't something they'd like to look back on? If that's the case, then isn't that a good thing???

    One thing is certain, they know how you see them. It's been 29 years since it happened, and yet I recall the embarrassment I felt as I saw the way people looked at me as I sifted through the garbage at a restaurant looking for food. I felt dirty. Low. Worthless. But hunger is a motherfucker, people...and the pain in my stomach made me swallow what little pride I had left, as my instinct to survive kicked in full blast. The funny thing is that my reaction wasn't anger, though it should have been...it was an awful feeling of low self worth. I think back on that and wonder how people can see that and not take pity? At the very least not giggle in amusement or give you a look of disgust!

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    Walking down the same streets these days, you'll be amazed to see tents everywhere. Cardboard boxes are almost obsolete. And though at first it may seem like a good thing...it's not. In my mind it just makes that situation seem more hopeless. More permanent. As if they are giving up altogether and making the best of it. Sad.

    Even I don't think I've earned the right to judge...though I know what it's like to sleep in urine smelling freeway underpasses... I can't assume that I know all situations and reasons why people live survive this way. What I do know, is that I can't call myself a Christian, or even HUMAN for that matter, if I refuse to help someone in need. You never know what life will throw your way, and it may be you (or me) out there one day. Yes, chances of that may be slim, but that shouldn't contribute to feeling indifference.  After all, though the first recorded question posed to God by a man never really received an answer....the answer is:

    Yes! You are your brother's keeper!

Comments (37)

  • I see quite a few people living on the streets where I live

    When we went to visit my Uncle when he was at Cambridge university we saw quite a lot of people on the streets

  • We dont have a lot of people living on the streets here cause the police run them off.......However I know that they exist............I know cause everyonce in a while you see them begging for food at the entrance to the walmart..........

    We do have several shelters that allow them to get off the streets and food in their bellies and a bath.............I know cause the churches and the kids go down there and cook and deliver food and serve them.

    When I have leftover stuff or have baked too much I take it down there for them.

    Sorry you had to be homeless when you were younger.......That is sad.........I remember reading that blog a while back and you made me cry.

  • Most of the homeless are there, because we really don't care do we? We throw money at them, maybe ever have our goverment start some programs for them. But care? If we really cared, most of them would be in treatment of some sorts, because most of them are ether addicts of insane. But that is hard and very costly. Much cheaper to give them tents and free food. Treat the insane and addicted the same why we treat the temporarily poor. Put them all in the same part of town and forget about them.

    Those things (hand them a $20) make us feel better, they make us feel like we care. But we don't care enough, because we know what needs to be done and we do not do it.

  • I don't get hangovers really. Not unless I drink so much that I wake up drunk. And that is so unpleasant that I just say no before i get to that point.

  • Yes, we are, and I am so glad you wrote this! Some of us, but for the grace of whomever, are close to being homeless. Don't pity them, help them-it could be you! I applaud you!

  • True...but since it's one of those pompous pieces of fiction, it should work. Like all that old literary shit the professors read where everything everyone says sounds like it was generated out of a computer or they just say weird things to get a point across.

    I don't know what i"m talking about anymore. haha.

  • Do unto others as you have unto you.........Help 'em up.

  •  yep

  • Amen. There needn't be any homelessness whatsoever in America, if our priorities were straighter.

  • I agree about the tents

  • amen bro... especially about cain's inquiry..

    hey, do you think you could do an entry about heather veitch or annie lobert? they're former sex industry workers who have devoted their lives to helping people escape from the industry... in a sense, they epitomize the underlying intentions of this entry here...

  • How does the old saying go? There but by the grace of God goes me. We are all too insolent sometimes, forgetting that we are only a breath away from the poor, the neglected, the hungry, the drug addicted etc. I too have had enough humbling experiences in my life to be grateful for what I have. It seems that when I first started reading your blog that I commented, I thought you and I might have similar backgrounds, just a guess though.

    Have a wonderful weekend! Great Post!

    Hugs, Tricia

  • Hmm...interesting perspective.

    I see homeless people and feel sad for them.  Sometimes I feel as if they make the choice to be that way, but now that you mention it, it IS better than robbing, killing, beating and selling drugs to others.

    A friend of mine...whenever she sees a homeless person, she always goes and buys them a sandwich or McDonalds and brings it back.  In her eyes, it's better than giving them money to do who knows what with, but it's her way of making a contribution and a difference in that person's life.

  • i do pity them, but even more, i'm curious about them. what pushes people to get to that place? once in chicago, I met the friendliest homeless man ever. It must have been negative twenty degrees or something, at night and he wasn't even sitting on a steaming subway grate. My friend and I were walking home from a pizza restaurant and we had, in our hands, a giant takeout box of leftovers, still hot. We offered it to him, but he pointed to a large plastic bag bursting with junk food and said, "No thanks girls, i've got enough to eat. But God Bless you." All the way back to the hotel I was wondering if he had parents, brothers, sisters...was it possible that he had no family left whatsoever? no friends? I think that's the saddest part - that people can end up so alone like that.

  • i wish i'd had a tent! i spent a number of years alone, unwanted, and addicted to drugs. it wasn't really the drugs that made me homeless. i mean, i didn't spend all my money on drugs as opposed to rent and utilities and such. i never really had a place to spend money on to begin with. i didn't grow up with much, and i lost even that pretty early i guess. i'm not sure what happened. i never really had any hopes or dreams for myself... i was never made aware that i could have anything. no one else around me had anything, after all, why would it have ever been different for me? i know how they look at me. it never made me angry, only sad. i think i was too beat down to get angry about much of anything. i wonder more about people, i think, than do most. i guess sometimes i was ashamed, but more, i was in awe. it was the people that pretended i wasn't there, that got me. those people... or the people that were homeless around me.. they never seemed to care much. i suppose you don't after so long. you do accept it. i can see how, too... because i have a place now. and i feel tied down.... it's kinda like being incarcerated for long periods of time. eventually, you get institutionalized. you're more comfortable there. used to it. except for the loneliness. that is always there. and it gets worse in the cold. you feel it more, then. all my thoughts from back then were so... like this comment. eh. i'm not addicted to drugs, but i still feel alone and unwanted more often than not. i guess houses don't solve everything... and they don't always feel like home, either.

  • I've known lots of different kinds of homeless people. Some of them were homeless because they preferred to be homeless and work and spend every paycheck on crack rock - perfectly content with that way of life. Some were homeless because they no longer had anyone to care about... no reason to go live another way... again, pretty much perfectly content with that kind of life. I knew kids who just didn't want to go home who preferred to be drug addicts and prostitutes instead of going home and dealing with their parents. I knew a few homeless people who really wanted a different life. Most of the homeless that I've known - if they wanted up and out, they got it. Maybe they didn't go far, but the people who were willing to work to get out of a bad situation usually made it. Birmingham Alabama isn't the same as CA... I know that... but I bet the homeless population is pretty similar in types.
    Heck... you have a pretty good life now... You're proof there's a way out of the pit if someone's willing to try and work and change their attitude

  • I agree w/ eccentrique's words...there really shouldn't be any homelessness in this country.

    We could stop it easily w/ a little redistribution of priorities...and not communist type redistribution, but just a redistribution of ideas. To the point where we can actually picture being in each others' shoes...

    But I don't think the wealthiest nation in the world is willing to make those sacrifices...

    And RYC: well said...

  • I saw a United Way commercial the other day and I cried seeing the homeless person. If people really give a shit, they will vote for candidates who want to help put tax money towards programs that will help get homeless people off the street. Maybe of them have schizophrenia, addictions, or have suffered abuse. I've said it before, and I fully believe that a sign of a strong, established society is one which is able to (and DOES) help those most in need; the homeless. People only really try to bring about change to these issues when it has affected themself or someone they really care about. Otherwise in their eyes it's just another expense the government has to eat up their tax money.

  • *Many of them have

  • My dad used to take me out to the mission at night when I was a kid.  It made me see the difficult situation so many homeless people were in.

  • Thank God, I've never had to deal personally with a situation like that, but I've never been able to see how people can laugh it off. It's a terrible way to exist, and I don't understand how people can take it so lightly. Our government could most certainly do more to help them, it's a shame and disservice to its citizens that they don't.

  • Judge not least ye be judged.

  • I help homeless people in any way that I can. I mean, I don't take a weekend off to visit a shelter or do community service (Although I should), but rather, if I pass a homeless person on the street asking for money, I will be more then happy to give him/her a $20, and buy them a hotdog from the nearest vendor. If I see a homeless person  near a grocery store or something, I will go in and purchase him a meal for then and some non-parishable food that he can eat easily  (No cans of soup, what homeless person carries a can opener in their pocket, right?)... I mean, I am ridiculed for giving so much money to people on the streets by many (I have gotten countless "They are just going to buy drugs with that money!" lectures), but they need it more then I do. Especially as I am still living at home and the only bill I have to pay is my cell phone bill... I feel it's my duty to help, you know? I try to do what I can... although I feel I am not doing enough.

  • You always write such great, deep, thought provoking posts, Miguel!  I really look forward to them-- a lot!

    It is so sad...so, so sad.

    Here in NY I have NEVER seen tents, though (of course I live out on Long Island, so I am not sure about in the city..)...only boxes, which to me seem just so cold and obviously not as sturdy as a tent.

    You know what annoys me?  The people who CHEAT and LIE and to get government assistance--and I know many-- contractors and such who work out in the Hamptons and make tons of money, but don't pay any taxes, and cheat at tax time....and even end up getting money back.  When meanwhile they are getting free health care for their family due to their cheating....  I just feel like.....if we all were fair and honest....there would be more to aid the homeless.  It just isn't fair.  They have NOTHING and are so obviously in need, you know?

  • This reminds me of an episode of Oprah I watched a few days ago where a filmmaker gave $100K to a homeless man to see what he would do with it. As anyone with any sense would expect, the man spent all of the money and is now homeless again. I thought it was cruel to do that to someone in the name of experimentation when anyone could predict what would happen. It would have been more helpful to give that man some help he could use. Although admittedly, that man did a lot of damage to himself and was a victim of his own stubbornness and stupidity. Perhaps there wasn't much another person can do for him, since he could not change his own destructive patterns. But better help could have been given than just throwing money at him.

  • "Yes! You ARE your brother's keeper!"

    Easy to say, not easy to do.

  • Bravo, Miguel! You have hit at the heart of social injustice, again. My city has little to offer the homeless: three days shelter and a shower, a warm meal four days a week. Some churches offer soup, gloves and blankets, but nothing like a fresh start. There are so many of them and in the Endtime we need to find so many more ways to help. Thanks for the reminder. RYC: What a help your explanation is to me. Now I know how to deal with it. Thanks again, my brother.

  • I haven't seen tents in Montreal, which doesn't make much sense since you'd figure the homeless people here could really use them in the winter... I guess the metro stations and homeless shelters are warmer.

    A lot of the people who live on the streets now used to live at the Douglas Hospital, which took care of psychiatric patients... but the Douglas switched over to a research facility a few years ago and ended up (literally) kicking out most of their former residents into the cold. (My bf used to work in tech support at the Douglas, and sometimes he recognizes the people on the street...) So in their case, maybe it's not so much that they're unwilling to break the law to make money... but maybe they're just unable to look after themselves, period. Truly appalling situation all around. At least there are a lot of shelters in the city where people can go to spend the night or grab a hot meal. I'm not sure how it is in LA but in Montreal we have a pretty good support system set up... but far from perfect of course. In a perfect world there would be no homeless people at all.

    ryc: You're right I should update more often! I just don't know what to say. :)

  • I've apparently gained some "mini credits." I want you to be the first I use them on. You've earned it.

  • We are our brothers keeper....you are right.
    I read to the kids at the homeless shelter and I wonder what else I can do...I take extra produce to the soup kitchen and I wonder what else I can do... I have enough and I am shamed to want more... tell me ....what will make a difference? What can we do?

  • I agree with Squeaky about this... people need to be more willing to give actual HELP to these people. Money alone isn't going to cut it, because they don't have the skills necessary to handle that in the right way. Well, that's not completely true. I'm sure there are people out there who are homeless who you do the right thing with that money. You just never know...

  • I volunteer at a shelter twice a month and the one thing the director told me when I first started was that the one thing these *human beings* want is social interaction.  I sit down with them and talk over coffee, not judging nor pitying them.  Their stories are so varied I came to realize the homeless are the way they are for numerous reasons.  One can't just say they're all insane or lazy...many have fallen through cracks any of us could have.  Its amazing how many of us have insulated themselves from the homeless, making them invisible as to be beyond the reach of our selective cares.

    They are flesh and blood, they bleed, they cry and they feel pain and hunger...they are human. 

  • "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

    "Give to the man who asks of you, and don't turn away from the one who would borrow from you," are the words of Jesus. "As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me."

  • Too much responsibility for me. Me bringing a child into the world would just suck for me and the kid.

  • I'm hearing all these horror stories about bowl cuts.

  • Wonderful post, very eye-opening.  I'd love to hear your story sometime.  But thanks for giving your unique perspective on this, it's always good to hear about those who rose above it, and who who've been there. 

  • rooting for another update. I love your blog!

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