Let’s be real with each other. How many of us have screamed at the homeless? “Get a job!” “Get off my property!” “I’m calling the police!” I’d say there’s probably a good chunk of us who have. To an extent, it’s your right to. It’s your right to protect what is yours, and if someone pushes, no one would blame you for pushing back. How many of us have ignored the homeless? They sit out there day after day with their signs and you just look right through them. There’s most likely an even bigger chunk of us in that category. I’m part of the latter, myself. It’s easy for me to look through people in general. I’m intimidated by almost every person I meet, so that’s a normal occurrence for me. I won’t use that as an excuse, though. I won’t lie and say that the emotions that go through me when I walk by a nicely dressed stranger are the same as when I walk past someone begging for money. The homeless seem more threatening to me. Their willingness to ask for assistance strikes me as odd, outside the normal realm of human interaction. They will talk to anyone with little regard for how that person will react or what they will think of them.
And, honestly, I think that says more about me as a person than about them. I think it says more about all of us.
Does society shun the homeless because they are an eyesore to the better off? Or do they shun them because they are living better off than the rest of us?
Hear me out.
There’s a freedom associated with living on the streets. Who here hasn’t thought a time or two about running away from our job or family or responsibilities to just go do what we want when we want? You tell me no, and I’ll call you a liar. Think about it for a minute. True honest to god freedom. What does that look like for you? For me, it would be a lot of traveling to places I’ve never been, reading anything and everything I could get my hands on, and writing, simply for the joy of writing. It sounds appealing, and it’d be so simple to do. Just drive.
So then, if it’s all good and well, what stops us from taking the leap?
I think the things that stop me are the same things that stop a lot of us. I hate having a mortgage, but I love having a roof over my head with heating and air available to me whenever I want it (in exchange for a higher electric bill, naturally). I hate having a 9-5, but I love the steady income every two weeks. Knowing when my next meal will be and having the luxury to be picky is something I can’t imagine life without. I have dogs that need spoiled, a wedding to plan, and, while I normally don’t think of myself as high maintenance or materialistic, there are things out there that I look forward to buying or viewing or consuming.
Letting go of responsibility and throwing caution to the wind sounds lovely, but I’m just too damn comfortable.
I never really thought about homelessness and what all is involved with it until I read the book Those Who Wander: America’s Lost Street Kids by Vivian Ho. In it, Ho takes a critical look at the homeless, street kids in particular, and seeks to offer insight as to why some choose to live on the streets, and why others can’t get off them no matter how hard they try. She interviews street kids of all ages and creeds and walks of life, from the wanted to the unwanted, the sane to the mentally ill, the criminals, the innocents, and everyone in between. Ho takes her work to the next level by interacting with them in their own environment, whether it be taking a walk with one street kid in the park, or attending a convention of sorts with dozens upon dozens of homeless people on the beaches of California. The one thing they all have in common is a sense of community. Street kids, for the most part, look out for their own. It is truly a fascinating read that I would recommend to anyone interested in sociology or curious about the people who hold up signs.
I’m honestly not doing this book justice. I think the biggest takeaway from Those Who Wander is this: Don’t be so quick to judge. You never know the other person’s story.
That, and, maybe be a little nicer to your fellow man. It costs absolutely nothing to be kind.
If I had to rate this, I’d give it a 10/10. Vivian Ho writes in such a way that gives an unbiased look at the homeless youth’s way of life, and I am here for it. After reading every chapter, I’d put the book down for a moment to absorb what I just read. She tells their stories so carefully, no details spared, and she includes her own previous biases and how the people she met morphed her to understand where they were coming from. This book is absolutely incredible.
Alright, void I scream into, you know the drill. Your turn. Tell me about a time you helped someone less fortunate than yourself. Gimme some feel-goods.
Manda Kay Writes 