Homelessness
Homelessness is not only a distant problem. It is not a trouble faced by others only in far away countries who we cannot relate to. Homelessness is an unfortunate situation that affects more than 842,000 people a week in the United States. Another astonishing number (from 2005) estimates over 300 million individuals worldwide are homeless.
I cannot recount the first time I witnessed this tragedy-probably when I was a blessed, young, curly-haired blonde with a warm, inviting home and bed I was sure to sleep in every night. While I looked up at the glow-in-the-dark adhesive shooting stars on my ceiling and wished for the next popular toy, another little girl was peering up at the real stars wishing for a bed. Granted, I, along with us all, was expectantly ignorant as a child to the complications of the world. We are old enough now, old enough to understand and make conscious decisions to help each other. Not one person on this very earth deserves to be homeless.
The thought of such a large number of people experiencing homelessness-kids my age and younger, older adults, unlucky all the same- brings tears to my eyes. Unfortunately though, in this community, I see homelessness. There are the rickety, old cars you see around town sometimes with “stuff” packed like sardines in all the air space available. Now this does not mean this person is homeless, but when you are stopped at a red light, and coincidently turn and gaze into their eyes at the precise moment they do the same, it is impossible to deflect the hurt and heart-wrenching emotions in their eyes. Impossible. I have seen this hurt. I have looked into a stranger’s eyes and known their life story, their suffering. It hurts me too. So when you see this, the natural human response it to shut out these harsh feelings and emotions. You ignore the look from the person beside you when they may scare you. You roll up the window when the person stands on the street asking for money. Really though, we should be rolling down the window and offering silent presents and smiles of encouragement. It is easy to see that they have struggles and difficulties. If they are homeless, the last thing society should do is shut them out too. As Robert Fulghum said many times, “When you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.” It couldn’t be more true to me that, in general, you never know how gracious a roof is until you’ve heard the story of someone without one.
~Cameron Kiddy
