Our Responsibility to the Homeless in our Communities

I found the following on a social app the other day (I have redacted the name of the city for privacy as the concept pertains to way too many cities and towns in our country all grammar errors are from the original poster):

Get rid of homeless

How can we get rid of homeless in ______? They are disturbing all our peace, all of them are druggies, benefiting off of us, doing whatever they want. They will never change and become better people if we keep letting them live how they want. We are cultivating their lifestyle. By opening shelters and feeding them for free we aren’t helping. They park their vans wherever they want, without getting towed. We’re making it worse, by making their homeless life easier. Trying to get rid of the symptoms instead of the root cause, Doesn’t help. Laws need to be strict and they need to be kicked out. Once they realize they aren’t welcome anywhere, they will want to change their lives. Is there a petition we can sign for the mayor to do something about it???? A protest someone can arrange?

My first thought was “but for the grace of my God there go I.” I started imagining making that one wrong choice-- whether or not to spend the minimal paycheck on food for the family, or pay the power bill; imagining having mental health issues and not being able to afford your medications because of the cost of medical help is too high (prescription drug prices are insane to let alone the doctor’s visit – especially if one does not have insurance.), being mentally/physically abused by a significant other, and cannot leave for fear, having that addiction that you just cannot quite make go away, no matter how many times you have gone through rehab and depended on your family and friends until they all gave up on you.

Then, I started thinking about our homeless Veteran population. Those who fought for our country sometimes end up being the ones that have the most problems; whether caused by PTSD, mental health, drug addiction, or the struggles of trying to return to civilian life--our Veterans make up approximately 12% of the homeless population of the United States.

These are all ways my mind went to thinking about how these people end up homeless because you chose that one choice that started the ball rolling and then you are living in a van down by some river you’ve never heard of or under a cardboard box (if you’re lucky enough to have one).

The root cause needs to needs to be dealt with. The root cause is the lack of money. Whether it’s in the guise of a living wage so people can afford to pay their bills, buy food for the house, and their medications, or in revamped benefits and services to our Veterans to help them after they have served us, or even in a federal monthly allotment. The root cause needs to take care of by our political leaders because they are the ones that can give people the money by raising the national minimum wage to a living wage. They are the ones that can pass the laws that will give the benefits and services to our Veterans.

Unless you have been privileged enough to stay above the curve, you have needed the help of food banks and/or shelters at one time or another in your life. This means that you know that you would still be there except for the HELP of shelters, food banks, and people who want to give a hand up with the handout. By opening the shelters and feeding them they are not stealing from you. By letting them park their vans to sleep somewhere that is at least dry, they are not camping on your front lawn in a tent.

Once you realize it COULD BE YOU tomorrow because you chose to do the one thing instead of the other; or maybe your boss will come in and say you are fired and you have no savings, no family to help and no one wants to hire you then you lose everything. Some are very lucky and privileged to think that not helping these people will make them go away. Yes, some have made the "choice" to live this way - but not all, and those are the ones that we need to help.

Be a good person.

Help your fellow humans instead of hurting them. That will help them "go away".

How can we "get rid of them," you ask? By HELPING them not hurting them.