Homelessness

Photo: Rachel Monroe/Monroe's Dragonfly

Oh my Lord America.  I gotta say this, this is the most sickening thing about this, our beautiful country.  If I could just put my finger on something, press hard, push your face into it, anything...ANYTHING to make you ill, this is it.  There is no....excuse....for this...in this country.  NONE.

Oh, we have reasons.  We have excuses a-plenty.  We know about this, yet we shut our eyes, turn our heads and some of us, with their very souls at risk, ignore it completely, like it doesn't even exist.  Don't think I haven't seen that one America, and a lot of it.

I remember walking through the streets of Chicago one morning, and there on the corner was, not only a homeless man, but his dog as well, complete with ribs you could play your favorite tune on.  A group of say 3-4 business men, all in their 30's or so, hurried along Monroe Street, talking shop.  A quick glance to the side as they came closer, and wow.  All of a sudden, it was like death in the group.  A couple yanked out their phones, checking for non-existent messages...one started to point the opposite direction, like there was anything to look at save more tall buildings.  Makes you want to run up to at least one, punch them in the face, grab them by the scruff of their necks and crane their heads back in the direction they should be looking.

You want to know why you look away America?  You can't look, and you know why.  That guy and his dog, they remind you of someone.  Funny, he almost looks like your father, doesn't he?  Wait no, your brother.  Your KID brother.  He had a dog just like him, didn't he?  Wait...oh yeah....your best friend.  Your Uncle.  Oh my God, your SON!!

That's right.  Your brothers, people.  Your American brothers are homeless...jobless...on the street.  You know who takes care of these people?  Us poorer people do.  We, the lower class are forever shoving dollars in their cups, knowing we can barely take care of ourselves...but a majority of us know what being homeless is all about.  Either we've been there, or we've known people who have.

Yeah, that's one reason.  Here's another.  You put those people on that corner.  You, right along with corporate America put Joe Smith on that corner, and you know it.  You're the VP at the corporate giant who put Mr. Small Business....out of business.  You're the Manager of Operations at the plant that dumped waste into that lake that, every summer, drew a slew of vacationers to it.  Jane Doe, the local owner of a bait and boat shop rental had to close her doors this year because of it.  The bank reclaimed her home, and now Jane and her family are out on that corner today.  Oh, it might not be EXACTLY who you see...but it could be, just as well.  In your eyes, America, every homeless person you see looks JUST like that person you wronged, inadvertently, or not.  Guilt.  Thank God SOME of us still have consciences.  Not that we pay attention or do anything about it, mind you...but we can still have one.

Here's my favorite though.  You really, truly, are completely naive about it.  You just don't know.  I can understand this, no one wants to talk about it, and that means that there are really and truly people out there who have no clue whatsoever what the numbers really are.

This is where I come in.  You'll have those numbers America.  If it kills me, you'll have them, as big as I can make them too.  Maybe if we lived in the Congo.  Quite possibly, had we been born in Venezuala.

But, as we are the 6th most prosperous country in the world, and leading the world in power, we have run out of excuses.

Did you know that we have five times as many empty houses as we have homeless people?  The reason we have homeless people again???

The number one reason for homelessness?  Lack of AFFORDABLE housing.  Do you think maybe this means we should possibly...LOWER THE COST?  PAY PEOPLE MORE?  Gee, I dunno.  MAAAAAAAAYBE.

More reasons?  Mental Illness/Substance Abuse, and the lack of services available to both.  Low paying jobs.  Yeah, DUH!!  Damaged foster children, when released at 18.  Job training for vets after Vietnam (we dropped the ball on this one, kids.  No Sense in trying to fix that one NOW).  The mentally challenged, currently or at some time in their past drug addicts, the current and past imprisoned population, and most assuredly FORMER criminals, who, because of technology, can't be employed; at some companies, FOREVER - because of computer background checks.  Natural Disasters:  a rather alarming and growing number of people are homeless due to this.   People who are evading law enforcement.  Adults and children who evade domestic violence.  Children who are thrown out of homes (or who run away from them because of) over the disapproval of their gender identity (LGBTQ), Overly complex building codes, foreclosures, evictions, lack of support network (friends, family), lack of resources in a community before homelessness becomes a problem, and Gutter Punks (people who choose to be homeless for political reasons or who are homeless to fight the system).

And, to round off the list, we, as a nation, have diverted 42%....that number again, forty-two percent of our focus, away from our own poverty and homeless population, and are helping other countries out with their problems (as of 2005 anyway...that number is probably a lot bigger by now).

Please, PLEASE don't get me wrong.  Philanthropy is my LIFE!!  I myself have nothing to very little, mostly thanks to my nature of helping others regardless of their reasons for being this way, believe that. Someday?  I might relate some of those stories.  Today, I'm more worried about what all of these numbers add up to.

The total?  That we know of anyway?  Well, the numbers are all over the board; and yet, no matter how high it is in actuality, there's STILL...NO....REASON for it that you can convince me of.  The reasons that are obvious are these:  Greed (See America's "26" original deadly sins, Day #7), Capitalism (Day #3)...oh hell, just see 'em all, ok?  Approximately though?  If we go with currently documented numbers, we're looking at somewhere around...

635, 682 at any one time.  Between 2.5 to 3.5 million will experience at least a few days of homelessness during the course of any given year.

Now, to give the government some credit, these numbers, as well as others related to utter homelessness, have been on the decline of late.  But I'll say it again, America, THESE NUMBERS ARE WAAAAAY TOO BIG...for us.

What to do, what to do.  Give to charity?  This one's pretty tricky.  With the advent of the WWW, the possibilities of giving to someone who isn't going to use it for its intended purpose is pretty grand.  Even the ones you KNOW are good, aren't...as much.  A lot of the biggies use a lot of what you give to paying employees, and expenses for having a base of operations, as well as having offices in just about every major city.

Make donations to local charities?  Same issues.  Give to food banks?  Use one sometime.  Make it a city/county/state driven one.  If you get more than 7 items per person, and are able to eat more than one meal, let me know will you?  I'd like to know where those places are.  Throw money into your church?  You never know where a lot of that goes, even worse, a lot of churches are very much of the "Looking out for US" philosophy.

Oh wait!!  HERE'S a thought.  Nooooooooo..........might be too intense, too radical, too stupid!!  Never mind...

OKOK, you talked me into it....the secret ingredient IS:

Give.  No, don't donate, don't support, don't fall for the BS...just plain ol' give.  Not stupidly, mind you.  Oh, there are players a plenty, usually occupying the same areas as the ones who really need you.  No, I'm talking about this:  Look across the street.  Look to your left and right.  If you see a problem, and you have extra?  GIVE.  Clean out your pantry, give an extra sack of that food you never wanted to buy in the first place to the neighbors with 6 kids, whose parents you've never met, because they work 25/8 of their time. Instead of throwing out the baby clothes, deliver them over to the mother that asked if you had a dollar she could borrow 'til Friday.  Instead of throwing out that tube TV, because you finally bought that 42" LG flat panel, stick a sign on it that says FREE and put it out, or call around to your friends and relatives and see if they know of anyone that could be interested in one.  Take a few extra minutes out of your crazy day and dedicate them to trying to find someone to help out.

And no, I don't mean you blue collar underpaid types.  Uh-uh.  No, I'm pointing at all you others.  White collars.  Business entrepreneurs.  You, the one who made a million last year from that new budding website. Bill Gates....YEAH YOU!!  It ISN'T the lower class's responsibility to take care of its own, it's YOURS!! You have more than you could feasibly spend in two lifetimes, GIVE BACK TO AMERICA.  America made you, and America can break you just as easily.  Give it up, and there might be something there for us to consider when we think of using a different operating system, buy another product you manufactured, or walk through your franchise's doors.  Give to your community, and for God's sake, if you see a homeless guy on the street, give him a gift card, or, better yet, ask him what he wants and go get it for him!!

Last but not least, here's one for all the real estate owners and companies in our greedy nation:  Come off of your sky-high horses.  Take care of our homeless, or suffer the inevitable consequences:  Squatters.  Home invaders.  Campers.  If you don't know what those words mean?  LOOK 'EM UP.  Look....there, on your cell-phone...Google it!!  Lower your rent prices, and for cryin' out loud, speak out against being in, supporting, or creating a rental group.  These groups, that exist for no other reason than get an occasional eviction or late rental payment, tend to make rental rules that shut out those of perceived "lesser value".

I hate to tell you people this, but pretty soon, there won't be a middle class.  There's only going to be those who have and those who don't.  And if you insist on inventing stupid rules like "Show me you make a minimum of 3x the money you need to pay the rent, in income", you're going to shut out, eventually, the very people that made you what you are today.  Next thing you know, your neighborhood will be empty, and all your properties will be for rent, and you'll wonder what the heck happened to your dreams of being a rental property mogul.  After that, your only option will be to give it all back up to the bank, or sell it at a massive loss to that extended stay hotel chain, who wouldn't mind putting up a building here...on your property.  In your neighborhood.  Right over the park and playground that used to be there, that at one time was filled to the brim with middle-classed kids.

If you have it, often-times more than you could possibly spend in your life-time, you had best look to your neighbors if you want to see them survive paying colossal interest rates on their home-loans, or pretty soon you'll see lights where there shouldn't be any, from fires homeless people tend to set to light up the empty house they invaded because it's been empty for a year, when it didn't look to be rented or bought anytime soon.  Pretty soon, these people tend to notice that you have more than you can handle, then decide that they'd like to relieve you of some of it.  :D